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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





REV. SHERLOCK BRISTOL. 



THE 



Pioneer Preacher 



INCIDENTS OF INTEREST, 

AND 

EXPERIENCES IN THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



REVIVAL LABORS IN THE FRONTIER SETTLEMENTS. A PERILOUS 

TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS IN TIME OF INDIAN WARS, AND 

BEFORE THE RAILROADS. THREE YEARS IN THE 

MINING CAMPS OF CALIFORNIA AND IDAHO 

TWENTY -ONE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, ETC. 

BY 

REV. S. BRISTOL, 

SAN BUENA VENTURA, CALj 



ILLUSTRATED BY 

ISABELLE BLOOD. 



DEC 16 1887 ,5 
%, 3 2.2-y/. 



FLEMING H. REVELL, 
CHICAGO: I NEW YORK: 

148-150 Madison Street. 148-150 Nassau Street. 



3X7abO 



|TH* LI1EAHY 
•f C OWOE BJf 

[ waihiwqton ] 

COPYRIGHT BY 

SHERLOCK BRISTOL, 



CONTENTS. 



I. The First Fifteen Years of my Life, - - 9 

II. The Sabbath School, and its Influence, - - 21 

III. Conversion and Early Christian Work, 25 

IV. Two Years in Phillips' Academy, - - - 40 
V. Life and Experiences in Oberlin College, - - 53 

VI. An Eventful Journey, - - - - 66 

VII. Returning to Oberlin, 80 

VIII. A Year in New Haven Theological Seminary, - 93 

IX. Graduation at Oberlin and Labors in Central Ohio, 99 

X. Agency for Oberlin College, - - 120 

XI. Pastoral Labors in Fitchburg, New York and 

Andover, - - - 124 

XII. Poor Health and a Trip to California, - - 137 

XIII. A Year among Miners in 1850, - 166 

XIV. From California to New York, - 190 

XV. Pioneer Labors in Wisconsin, .... 205 

XVI. Across the Plains to Oregon, Before the Railroads, 

and During an Indian War, - - - 238 

XVII. Two Years in Idaho, - 273 

XVIII. The Journey Back to Wisconsin, ... 286 

XIX. Renewed Labors in Wisconsin, - - , - 293 

XX. Third Journey to the Pacific Coast, - - - 304 

XXI. Twenty-One Years in Southern California, - - 320 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. Portrait. 

2. Encounter with an Alligator. 

3. Followed by a Puma. 

4. Rough Treatment. 

5. A Night with Three Robbers. 

6. Hunting the Wild Boar. 



PREFACE. 



This book is not written and sent forth to the 
public because of anything remarkable in the 
abilities or success of the author. He puts forth 
no claim to have walked on a higher plane, or to 
have accomplished a more important work than is 
quite within the reach of the average man. And, 
because he occupies this position, he cherishes the 
hope that the successes and failures narrated in the 
following pages, will afford encouragement and 
warning to those who, like him, are moving for- 
ward in the common walks of life. No claim is put 
forth to any special literary merit in the book, but 
the writer hopes to have made himself clearly under- 
stood, and that his style and language express 
average English in writing and speech. Nor does 
the writer claim absolute and literal correctness in 
all the minute narrations he has given of conversa- 
tions and speeches, many of which occurred long 
ago. The statements of all the principal facts may 
be relied upon. They are too deeply graven on 
the tablet of memory to be doubted or forgotten. 
Minute and unimportant variations from literal 
truth, in some cases it is freely admitted, are pos- 
sible, and even probable. Let the reader make 
allowances for such. 

(v) 



VI PREFACE. 

Should references to self — which abound in this 
book — savor of egotism, in the view of the reader 
let him consider how difficult it is to write an auto- 
biography, whose very nature it is to write about 
self and avoid amenability to this charge. If the 
question be asked, does this give the whole — the 
totality of my life, the answer is, Certainly not. 
Much is left out which lies solely between the 
author and God ; much that is properly private 
— much in which the public have little or no inter- 
est. But the following classes of persons, it is 
hoped, will read these pages with interest, and 
some degree of profit. 

i st. The young people — between the ages of 
twelve and twenty — who, at times, seriously pon- 
der the propriety' and duty of an early consecra- 
tion of themselves to God. They will read, per- 
haps with interest, the story of the writer's con- 
version, just after he had finished his fifteenth 
year. The obstacles which blocked the entrance 
upon the narrow way, his struggles to overcome 
them, and success through the help of One mighty 
to save. He hopes it will stir some of them to like 
efforts and like success. Will they regret it when, 
like the writer, they stand by their seventy-third 
milestone, and look back over the years of the 
right hand of the Most High? Will they regret it 
when 10,000 years have passed? 

2d. The author's struggles for an education 
under difficulties, and the timely helps, which 
strangely came to hand, ail the way through the 



PREFACE. Vll 

academy and college and theological seminary, 
may stimulate hope and courage and effort in those, 
who like him, sigh after a liberal education to fit 
them for the ministry, or other walks of eminent 
usefulness, but lack the means to obtain it. Who 
can limit the possibilities which lie before the 
devout young man or woman who is brimful of 
faith, energy and perseverance? Of the most 
eminent men in the church and State it may be 
said, " These are they who have come out of great 
tribulation." 

3d. In all our churches there is a class of earn- 
est, devout men and women who long for emanci- 
pation from sin, and sigh and cry after holiness of 
heart. Such will, perhaps, read with interest the 
writer's story of his experience of the weakness of 
human resolutions and favorable surroundings, in 
the contest with sinful habits and temptations, and 
the power of Christ to deliver and to keep the 
soul that casts itself on Him wholly for help. 

4th. To the theological student and young 
minister seeking a field of labor, these pages may 
suggest some special attraction in the home mis- 
sionary and pioneer fields. After a life spent 
upon the border, were the writer to choose his 
field again he would go among the poorer 
churches and spend his life, or at least begin it, 
upon the frontier. 

And, finally, he hopes these pages will contain 
words fitly spoken to those who, like himself, have 
passed their threescore years and ten, and are 



Vlll PREFACE. 

soon to fold their tents and pass over the Jordan. 
To such he would speak only words of encourage- 
ment and cheer. He fully believes in the possi- 
bility of a serene, cheerful and even happy old age. 
Infirmities indeed there are, but the helps prom- 
ised correspond, " For as thy day is, so shall thy 
strength be." Nearly all expect to be old some 
time, should life be prolonged ; it will come full 
soon, and too soon we cannot begin to prepare 
for it. And if we do it will, save in special cases, 
be the most joyful period of life. Farewell, kind 
reader, let us each act our part bravely in life 
— lay up abundant stores for old age, and when 
the end comes may those who stand round our 
graves be reminded of the sweet words of inspi- 
ration, " Mark the perfect man, and behold the 
upright, for the end of that man is peace." 

San Buenu Ventura, CaL, Oct. i, 1887. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. 

I was born in Cheshire, New Haven County, 
Conn., on the 5th of June, 181 5. My father had just 
been drafted into the army which served against 
Great Britain in the second war with that power. 
My grandfather had served six years in the War of 
the Revolution, and was one of the tall and well- 
built veterans selected to receive the arms of the 
British soldiers who surrendered at Yorktown. He 
was a powerfully-built man, brave and generous. 
He was an ardent patriot, and when he had 
enlisted with Washington's army he staid by it 
to the end of the war — six long and weary years — 
and was in at the death of English domination in 
America. 

I was born on the farm where my father was 
born, where his father was born, where his father was 
born, and which his father cleared and cultivated 
and where, also, he died, five generations of us, 
successively living practically under the same roof, 
and deriving our sustenance from the same acres. 
Our original ancestor referred to was an emigrant 
from England. He was one of some forty heads 
of families who colonized a section of the Con- 
necticut forest, claimed by the New Haven Colony, 

(9) 



IO THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

some fifteen miles north of New Haven Harbor. 
This section was some twelve miles square, and 
was at the time an almost unbroken forest, abound- 
ing in great oaks, some of which were from 500 to 
1,000 years old. Other trees there were, such as 
beech, elm, walnut, chestnut, butternut, maple, ash, 
bass, alder, pepperidge, boxwood, ironwood, etc. 
There were no prairies in all the State. The 
dark and dense woods covered every square rod, 
from hilltop to valley. Every acre was pre-emp- 
ted by them. The only exceptions were the 
water courses and an occasional pond created by 
beaver-dams, or flood wood piled up by freshets in 
the narrow gorge. It requires not a little of bone 
and muscle, and of courage, too, for a man with a 
family to settle down for life in a forest so wild and 
forbidding. But " a man was famous in those 
days, according as he lifted up axes against the 
mighty oaks." Indian wigwams were here and 
there in the valleys and along the streams, and noi. 
infrequent were their calls upon the pale faces, 
asking tribute of them for the privilege of dwell- 
ing in their vicinity. This part of Connecticut was 
a very paradise for the Indian. Its winters were 
comparatively mild and free from snow. For the 
warm ocean air melted it away soon after it fell. 
Its rivers and brooks were full of fish, such as 
trout, suckers, pike and small bass. Its ponds, 
small and great, abounded in eels, bull-heads, frogs 
and turtles. Deer, wild cat and catamount were 
numerous. There, too, were raccoon, woodchuck 



THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. II 

and squirrels without number, the latter, naturally 
daring and impudent, coming down the trees 
almost within reach of the Indian's arm, and defy- 
ing him to try his arrow upon them. Partridges 
drummed in the thickets, pigeons crowed and 
cooed in the oaks, while quail and thrush and black- 
bird and robin made all the welkin ring with their 
morning orison and their noon-day song. Night, 
too, had its minstrels, the lively whip-poor-will, the 
solemn owl and the katy-did. Berries, too, and 
nuts in varieties far exceeding those of any other 
land I have ever visited, were found on every 
square mile, and in quantities almost incredible. 
The adjacent shores and shoals of Long Island 
Sound were covered with oysters, quohogs, clams, 
mussels, scallops and almost every species of the 
great conch family. And when you add to all this 
long list upon the Indian's bill of fare, the vast 
shoals of menhaden, haddock, codfish and black- 
fish, which often, in those early days, nearly choked 
the entrances into its small bays, inlets and rivers, 
then surely you have demonstrated that this, 
indeed, was a very paradise for the Indians of 
New England. Very naturally, it also became 
the fighting ground, where fierce tribes strove for 
the possession of the coveted prize, a contest 
always ending, not as Darwin says, in " the sur- 
vival of the fittest" — that is, the most peace loving, 
humane and gentle — but rather in the survival of 
the worst, that is of the most warlike and war-lov- 
ing, the most bloodthirsty, cruel and treacherous. 



12 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

It was here on the north border of the New Haven 
Colony, and among these warlike tribes our ances- 
tor selected his location and received from the 
colonial officials a liberal grant of land. It was on 
the east line of the present township of Cheshire, 
and on the west of that of Wallingford. Here our 
ancestor lived many years, brought up a family, 
wrestled with the oaks and fought out the battle 
of life. Little has come down to us respecting 
him. But the ancestral acres are invested with a 
historic lore, more interesting to us of the fifth 
generation than tongue can tell. Here a bear 
was chased down, treed and killed. There a ghost 
was seen — a veritable ghost — and somebody died 
soon after. In yonder secluded valley lived a witch 
who was wont nightly to sally forth, and, trans- 
forming some innocent man or woman into a horse, 
she rode her victim unmercifully over corduroy 
roads and high hills, till just at daydawn she 
returned home and changed back the animal she 
rode from horse to man or woman again. All the 
next day she would smile on her visitors and chat 
ter with them of all good things, as if she was, 
indeed, but a little lower than the angels. Not so 
her hard ridden neighbor, who grunted all day 
with galled back, swollen legs, roweled sides and 
rheumatic joints. Yonder stood a house where 
once a man was shot! At the funeral one of his ten 
thumbs and fingers pointed straight toward a man 
in the crowd which gathered at his funeral ! No 
doubt that was his murderer, else why did that 
ringer point at him ? 



THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. 1 3 

Not to tarry longer among the scenes of this 
prehistoric period, I pass to say that the first fif- 
teen years of my life were, in the main, uneventful. 
They were passed in alternate attendance upon 
school (district) and working on the farm. The 
school term for us farmer boys was usually about 
four months, in winter, while the work on the farm 
occupied us the other eight months of the year. 
Happy and specially privileged was the youth 
who could average five months of schooling per 
year till he was sixteen. I do not think I was 
noted during this period of my life for anything 
save for uniform good nature, fearlessness and 
athletic feats. I had the name of being what they 
called a " dare-devil boy," ready for any advent- 
ure which called for strength, and that ready and 
practical wit which in some persons is only 
brought out by emergencies. My father, my 
uncles and even my grandfather, seeing this trait 
in me, used often to test it, even when I was but a 
small boy, by various endeavors to frighten me, 
and great was the zest with which they often told 
to each other the stories of their failures. I 
remember many of them, and will narrate one as a 
sample: It was a dark and stormy night, the win- 
dows in the old house rattled and shook fearfully, 
and all things seemed weird and ghostly, when my 
father proposed that I should go out into the back 
room, without a candle, feel my way to the cellar 
door and go down the rickety stairs. Reaching 
the floor of the cellar I was to lift up my voice and 
cry out in the darkness : 



14 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

"Old Grandpa Grey Beard, 
Without a tooth or tongue, 
Give me your little finger, 
And I'll give you my thumb." 

Then I was to march to the end of the cellar, and 
as I went was to stop at each vinegar cask, or 
whisky barrel, or cider hogshead, and, thumping 
three times on the head of each, I was to repeat 
the incantation ; on my way back I was to do the 
same. Dared I to do it? Was I not too big a 
coward for that? What would he give me to do 
it? He drew out eighteen cents and said, " I will 
give you that." Well, put it in mother's hands. 
He did so, and I started ; I fumbled and felt my 
way to the bottom of the stairs. There I made the 
cellar caverns resound with that dolorous incanta- 
tion. I did not know what it meant, and I don't now, 
but it seemed to me I stood at the mouth of Pluto's 
pit, and was daring the very devil himself to come 
out and take me if he could. But I was bound to 
put it through now I had begun. I felt my way 
along and thumped vigorously on the cider hogs- 
head and whisky barrel. What sepulchral sounds 
they gave back ! I had reached the end and was 
on my way back when I was startled by lugubri- 
ous shrieks and moans proceeding from the center 
of the stairway ! I was standing by a potato bin, 
and, taking out a big one, I threw it ! It hit my 
father full in the face, and he cried out, " Take care! 
You hurt ! " He retreated up stairs and I followed, 
and got my eighteen cents. Mother laughed at 
him as I never knew her to do before or since. 



THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. 1$ 

My grandfather, too, exhausted on me his sto- 
ries of witches and ghosts and scenes of blood and 
robbery and murder, " to try the boy's mettle," 
he used to tell grandmother, when she remon- 
strated. He would keep us around his great fire- 
place, eating apples and drinking cider, the long 
winter evenings, entertaining us with his wonder- 
fully interesting stories. But the blackest and 
bloodiest and most horrifying of all were reserved 
for the last of the evening. And great was the 
old man's glee when he could by this means induce 
any of his grandchildren to stay with him over 
night. But I have no recollection of ever gratify- 
ing the dear old grandsire by waiting till morn- 
ing before I dared to go down into the foggy val- 
ley which lay between our house and grandfather's. 
The valley was pleasant enough by day, when we 
boys went there to fish or to skate, but in the dark 
and foggy night how dismal it was! A very val- 
ley of Gehenna to us ! There were the ruins of 
the old distillery, the cellar of the old haunted 
house, and where, according to grandfather, " oft 
the sheeted dead did squeak and gibber as in the 
Roman streets," and where now, in these degen- 
erate days, their successors, the bats, flitted and 
coursed their crooked ways up and down the 
creek ; where the great owls flapped their dusky 
wings and muttered forebodings of bad luck to all 
wicked boys who, like me, dared to intrude upon 
their solemn meditations during the dark hours 
of night! Where, moreover, 10,000 toads and 



16 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

frogs, from the great-mouthed bullfrog of alder- 
manic proportions and dignity, whose deep bass 
voice sounded like a bass drum in the distance, up 
through all the grades of lesser frogs, to the tiny 
tree toad, who sat above the rest on a willow 
branch, piping prophecies of rainfall and freshet, 
making, in the aggregate, a pandemonium of 
noises which burdened all the dank and sickly air ! 
All this, and more, made the aforesaid valley little 
less than a gauntlet through which we children 
hastened home with bated breath and quickened 
steps. 

Let not the reader think I have overdrawn this 
picture of the dismal valley. Ought not I to know, 
who bobbed for eels a hundred nights up and down 
the brook, ofttimes alone, and sometimes stay- 
ing out till 12 o'clock, waiting for one more 
bite ? Yes, I speak with authority ! I know all 
about the dark valley, and how often I tripped 
lightly through it, my feet scarce touching the 
ground, and by no means as the ignorant poet says, 
" whistling to keep my courage up," but careful 
not to step upon a leaf, lest the evil one should 
awake and learn who was passing. I was cour- 
ageous enough when I reached the top of the hill, 
and I could see the lights in my father's house 
near by. But how was it when down in the val- 
ley? But enough of this, so brook of my child- 
hood, farewell ! 

THE WOODCHUCK STORY. 

While yet a boy and not old enough to handle 



THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. \J 

a gun I became passionately fond of hunting and 
fishing. I doubt whether Nimrod or Esau were 
naturally more so. I knew all about the haunts 
and habits of the game in our vicinity, and set 
snares and nets and traps, and figure fours and 
deadfalls to capture them. But, in one of my 
feats, I received a setback which ever after greatly 
modified my treatment of wild animals. I had set 
a steel trap for a woodchuck ; when caught it 
proved to be a mother, from whose appearance I 
judged she had a litter of small sucking wood- 
chucks in the hole. I did not like to kill her and 
leave her young ones to die the lingering death of 
starvation. I tried to get her leg out of the trap, 
but it was broken badly ; I got a stick and pressed 
with all my weight upon the spring. It broke in 
two and I fell upon her. The teeth snapped vig- 
orously about my clothes. In the melee I gave 
her a blow which killed her. The next day, toward 
evening, I visited the hole and found four young 
kitten woodchucks gathered at the mouth of the 
hole, waiting for the return of their mother. See- 
ing me they scampered back into the hole. Why 
should they not ? Was not I the murderer of their 
mother? What harm had they ever done to me? 
And for that matter what wrong had I received 
from their mother? Who else had she wronged? 
Could we not spare her a few heads of clover? 
Well, I felt bad, went home and told my brother. 
He felt as I did. We would carry them some 
choice fresh clover heads ! We did so. The 



18 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

next day, at evening-, we went again. They 
were all there, looking off toward the clover 
patch, if possible, to catch a glimpse of their mother 
again. They ran back as we came nigh ! Alas, 
the clover heads were untasted, they were too 
young, they wanted milk! What should we do? 
We would dig them out and feed them on cow's 
milk, or, at least, put them out of their misery. 
But the job was too much for us, the great oak 
roots were too large and strong for us, and the 
burrow too intricate and deep, and we had to give 
it up. In a few days they dug out, poor, gaunt 
and hollow-eyed creatures, one after another went 
into the hole and never came out again. The last 
one, after about eight days' starvation, was so weak 
that we caught it. We offered it milk, but it was 
too far gone, and it died in our hands. Since then 
there has been a tender spot in my heart when I 
have had to do with harmless brute creatures 
when rearing their young. 

PROFANITY. 

Recurring to the " dare-devil fearlessness" 
attributed to me in my boyhood, there was one 
phase of it not usual with boys of that ilk. I never 
tried to show it by taking my Maker's name in 
vain. Swearing was in those days quite common; 
nearly all our relatives and neighbors, on the male 
side, were more or less addicted to it, so were not 
a few of the boys of my age. But to me, it was 
about the most unreasonable, low-down and con- 



THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE. 19 

temptible of all the forms of sin. As 1 read the 
Decalogue, no one of the commandments seemed 
to me so reasonable, and indeed so pathetic as that 
which says : " Thou shalt not take the name of the 
Lord thy God in vain !" Could the dear Father, 
whose fingers fashioned us and brought us forth, 
and to whom we owe everything, could he ask 
less of us, as we went forth from His arms of love, 
than that we should treat His name with respect ? 
And what language is competent to denounce in 
suitable terms of loathing and scorn the reckless 
wretch who tramples under foot ever that com- 
mand, and goes out of his way, even on the most 
trivial occasions, to kick about, as an old hat, the 
sacred name of God? From a child I hated the 
words and scorned the man who used them. Years 
before I had reached my fifteenth, it had become a 
principle with me to avoid association with boys 
or men who were profane. Not a few alterca- 
tions over the matter occurred between me and 
my playmates, when the profanity became unen- 
durable. Sometimes the swearers twitted me with 
being pious, and while I said, " You know well I am 
not," yet, I added, " I am not mean enough to 
insult the God that gave me being, and if you are 
and intend to keep it up, then let us separate right 
here." Usually others interposed, the swearing 
was suspended, and the play went on. I noted 
that these swearers seldom afterward troubled us 
with their profane speech. This abhorrence of pro- 
fanity has amounted almost to a passion with me, 



20 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

down to the present time. The sentiment is very 
emphatic within, " I cannot endure profanity and I 
will not." And I have two things in relation to it, 
for which I am profoundly grateful : First, I have 
never yet indulged in one word of profane swear- 
ing. Second, I have enjoyed during my life a 
wonderful exemption from annoyance from its use. 
In the course of a long life, spent largely on the 
frontier, in the mines, on the plains and elsewhere, 
where rough language is largely in vogue, I have 
been brought in frequent contact with it. Slight 
words I have seldom noticed at first, but when 
they waxed thicker and blacker, and the great 
words came out, then I have attacked the swearer 
in a very decided manner, and not one time in 
twenty, if my recollection serves me, have I failed 
of an essential suppression of the vice. Just what 
brought this about, whether the form and manner 
of the reproof, or something else, I know not, 
but it has surprised me a hundred times. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 

When about twelve years old, in the year 1827, 
there came to our place the pastor of a neighbor- 
ing church, and addressed the Congregational 
Church, which I attended, on the subject of Sab- 
bath schools. I had never heard of them before. 
The subject was new to all the people. After a 
very interesting address all were invited to retire 
to the basement of the church who were in favor 
of organizing a school. A goodly number of boys 
and girls, and their elders too, gathered there. A 
superintendent was chosen, and teachers were 
called for. And while they were being called out 
or volunteering, the superintendent, observing a 
young lawyer in a back seat, and looking on with 
great interest, called out : " Squire Foot ! Wont 
you take a class?" The young lawyer, who had 
scarce reached his twenty-first year, and had just 
entered upon the practice of law, arose, and with 
many blushes, begged to be excused. He alleged 
his incompetency, being, he said, " better ac- 
quainted with Blackstone than the Bible." He 
sat down. But better thoughts came into his mind. 
After some moments of reflection he rose and said* 
" Mr. Superintendent ! I have concluded I will 

(21) 



22 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

take a class and do my best for it, provided you 
will let me select my scholars." " Certainly ! 
certainly!" said the superintendent, and a mur- 
mur of approbation and gladness passed over the 
audience, for all loved " Squire Foot." He had 
grown up in Cheshire, a natural gentleman, polite 
to everybody, and his life without a blemish. 
Was he not the son of Hon. Samuel Augustus 
Foot, for many years Governor of the State of 
Connecticut, and even then its honored Senator in 
the National Congress, and accounted one of the 
great men of the nation ? Well, the young lawyer 
went forward and looked fairly in the faces of the 
youths gathered before him, and then proceeded to 
select from among them his pupils. He laid his 
trembling hand on one head and another. To my 
utter astonishment, as he came near where I was 
sitting, he laid his hand on my head and asked so 
tenderly, "Will you be a member of my class?" 
I assented. But surely, there must be some mis- 
take about it ! Surely he does not know me, and 
never heard of me ! I was a plainly dressed farmer's 
boy, the sun had browned my face, my hands were 
hard with work, and though at church, possibly 
I even then was barefoot. Well, he led us apart 
to the seat we were to occupy, and gave us our 
lesson, the portion of Scripture we were to learn 
by heart, and repeat the next Sabbath. I was for 
the time dazed with astonishment, but I felt the 
honor and the stimulus of the notice taken of me 
by the young lawyer, more than now I would to 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 23 

be made Governor of the State. A new prospect 
opened before me, new hopes began to dawn, per- 
haps I could get to be something in the world — I 
would try. Squire Foot should have no occasion 
to regret his choice. There were eight of us. 
The next Sabbath we were all in our places ; we all 
repeated our verses without failure, our teacher 
commended us, and that amply paid us for our 
effort. By degrees we grew familiar and dared to 
ask questions as well as to answer them. The 
young lawyer's interest in the Sabbath school 
increased, and he was enthusiastic in praise of his 
boys. For more than three years he was our 
teacher, and great and lasting was the impression 
he made upon us. He was a model teacher, and 
in some respects peculiar, especially for the per- 
sonal interest he ever showed in each of his class. 
I was frequently sent to the village on errands ; it 
was two miles distant, and in summer I sometimes 
went barefoot, but it made no difference with my 
teacher — if I met him on the street, he always 
greeted me cordially, took my hand and asked of 
my welfare, and that of our family. Sometimes 
he would even cross over the wide street to meet 
me on the opposite sidewalk. It mattered not who 
was with him, he always stopped to speak with us. 
On one occasion he was walking with (I believe) 
a Member of Congress, on a visit to his father. 
He stopped, shook hands with me and introduced 
me to the stranger as one of his Sabbath school 
class, and spoke to him of my diligence in my 



24 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

studies, and instanced some reply I had made the 
Sunday before to a question, which he regarded 
as specially sensible and perhaps, bright. When 
he met my father or mother he would make 
inquiries after me, and utter warm words in my 
praise. These things took strong hold of me ; they 
stiffened my backbone, and sooner would I have 
lost my right arm than the confidence of my 
teacher. I do not suppose his treatment of me was 
peculiar ; very likely he treated the whole class in 
like manner. 



CHAPTER III. 

CONVERSION. 

Three years passed and the boys of twelve had 
become the youths of fifteen. We had become 
greatly attached to each other, and had all of us 
come under Gospel influences which were daily 
modifying our characters. Combined with other 
causes they culminated in my conversion when a 
few weeks past fifteen, and in this way it was 
brought about. The Congregationalists of that 
day were accustomed to hold, occasionally, three 
days' meetings ; such a meeting was held in Chesh- 
ire ; the preaching was principally by Rev. N. 
W. Taylor, of the New Haven Theological Sem- 
inary. I attended the second day and heard the 
wonderful preacher portray the love of God to 
ward men, even sinful men, and his desire, sincere, 
heartfelt, and unequivocal, that every man, woman 
and child on earth should repent, a?id do it now. 
The dogma, that somehow God did not want all 
to repent, he trod down with utmost scorn and 
indignation; then the terms of salvation, re- 
pentance — what it is toward man, what it is 
toward God ; then faith — a leaning upon Christ's 
arm, mighty to save unto the uttermost, all who 
submit and lean upon him. I was greatly interested, 

(25) 



26 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and long before he had finished his sermon I had 
anticipated his conclusions. I saw clearly just 
what I must do to be accepted and forgiven. I 
must start off as I was then, as Peter did, in fish- 
erman's dress, and follow Christ, making the law 
of his lips the rule of my life. That there was no 
need to wait for further convictions, or even for 
deeper feeling, but that I could go to him as I was 
and in his tutelage find, in due time, all the feeling 
and hate of sin I needed to have. Manifestly the 
first step was a formal and sincere pledge to count 
myself the Lord's servant from this moment 
onward. This I did at once; leaning my head for- 
ward upon the back of the seat in front of me, 
covering my face with my hands, three times I 
deliberately repeated the consecration to Him who 
possessed my reins and my heart, and asked Him 
to accept and ratify it. And now a great struggle 
ensued. Obstacles, many and almost insurmount- 
able, rose up before me. I believe the evil spirits 
who had me in charge were furious at my at- 
tempted escape, and they assailed me with object- 
ions and difficulties I had never thought of before. 
But I called upon the Lord, and he helped me. He 
said to the winds and waves, Be still, and there 
was a great calm. When my assailants returned 
again, a resort to the same great Helper brought a 
second deliverance. Indeed, I soon found the 
throne of grace a refuge from temptation and the 
storm. My tempters finding their violent assaults 
only drove me to the Lord, they desisted in large 



CONVERSION. 27 

measure, and resorted to other tactics better cal- 
culated to further their designs. 

CHRISTIAN WORK, IMMEDIATELY SUBSEQUENT TO 
CONVERSION. 

At the time of my conversion I was at work by 
the month, for a man who carried on extensive 
farming, ran a distillery, and employed quite a 
number of men. None of them were religious, 
and at once they set upon me, to ridicule me out 
of my allegiance to God — my religion. I was the 
youngest of them all, and it seemed to me the 
devil helped them when they were together, to 
make sport of my faith, and make a mock at sin. 
When two or more of them were together they 
were too much for me, but I soon found my way 
effectually to spike their guns. / took them one by 
one, and, when alone with them, I talked with them 
of my newborn faith, and love, and joy. Of the 
new life 1 was trying to live, its present peace, and 
its hopes of the future, and frequent foretaste of a 
bliss sweeter than earth could give. And I entreated 
them not to hinder me, nor trifle in a matter of 
such infinite importance to us all. Emboldened 
by going so far, I went farther; I asked them to 
make a break for eternal life. Could they do it 
too soon ? Would not Christ help them ? What 
if they should be lost forever, etc.? When thus 
addressed, and alone, they could neither answer 
me, nor scarce resist my appeals. Often they 
wept and sometimes asked me to pray for them 



28 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and with them. Thenceforward that gun was 
spiked, that person troubled me no more ; he knew 
I had his secret and his conscience too. Thus I 
took them one by one, till the boss of the gang was 
reached. He was harder than the rest, but God gave 
me a mouth and wisdom in my appeals and argu- 
ments he could not gainsay or resist, and so at the 
last they began to go to meeting with me, and the 
ridicule was over. Sooner or later nearly all 
of them gave evidence of conversion. Thus I 
found that the best method of self-defence is to 
" carry the war into Africa." 

The second prayer-meeting I attended after my 
conversion I arose and tried to stand up for Jesus. 
I did not utter coherently and distinctly the words 
I intended, which were — "He hath taken my feet 
from the miry clay and placed them upon a rock," 
but I did succeed in putting down that fear of 
man which brings a snare. From that evening 
onward it was always expected that I would take 
a part in every prayer-meeting I attended. Nor 
do I know that they were ever disappointed. 
Usually I was the first one to speak or to pray. 
The reason for that was this : I found that the mos- 
difficult place in the prayer-meeting. As a general 
thing at that time — all are not there — more or less 
are coming in — there is noise and disturbance. 
Then too, the religious pulse has not been quick- 
ened, so as to make it easy to take part. Yet I 
found this a most important place — the starting off 
of the services. And I asked the Lord to help me 



CONVERSION. 29 

to do that work. I believe He did, and I was helped 
in it. Yet there were some — even in the church 
— who misunderstood it. They attributed it to 
unwarrantable forwardness, especially in one so 
young-. One of them, a man of large wealth and 
influence, came to me and asked significantly, 
"Aren't some of you young people getting beyond 
your years in talking so much in meeting ?" I 
remember well my reply. It was this : "Mr. G — , 
if you will attend these prayer-meetings, and speak 
and pray in them, and see that the time is well 
occupied, I will agree not to open my mouth.'* 
"Humph !" said he, and dropped his head and went 
away greatly disgusted, for he would not have 
prayed in a prayer-meeting for a hundred dollars, 
much as he loved money. About this time our 
beloved teacher, at the close of a session of the 
Sabbath school, rose in his place and said : "I have 
a thank-offering to make to the Lord, and before his 
people to-day. It has been known in the school 
that for some months past a work of grace has been 
in progress in my class. One after another has 
come out on the Lord's side. To-day the last one 
in my class expresses the hope that he has been 
born again !" He could say no more, but sat down 
and wept, and the whole school bowed before the 
Lord and wept with him. Did ever sweeter in- 
cense ascend to God from Jewish altars than rose 
from that congregation weeping its tears of joy ? 
"And I say unto you there is joy in the presence 
of the angels of God over one sinner that repent- 



30 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

eth." Two of these boys became preachers of 
the Gospel — one an honored deacon — another a 
class leader and exhorter — two died early, and 
went, we have no doubt, to the Father's house. 
Another became a mechanic, honorable and true, 
whose latter history I have not been able to follow. 
And the eighth was the only one who I believe 
never made a profession of faith in Christ. "Who 
art thou that despiseth the day of small things?" 
"Esquire Foot" practiced law in Cheshire all these 
years, but his labors in that line have long since 
passed from mind. But his labors in the Sabbath 
school and in his class, when will they be forgotten 
and when will their influence end? 

THE FAMILY ALTAR ERECTED IN MY FATHER'S 
HOUSE. 

In the fall of the year after my conversion, in 
1 83 1, I returned home after my summer's work. 
Conversing one evening with my mother about 
the sad religious condition of our kindred, scarcely 
any of them even professing to be Christians, I 
asked her if there was a family altar in all our 
circle, or had there been one for a century back. 
She replied sadly — none that she could think of. 
My father coming in just then, I asked him the 
same question. It startled him. But he quickly 
replied — none that he knew of. I asked was he 
willing to have one set up here ? To have a short 
prayer offered every day in the family, and a por- 
tion of Scripture read ? He had no objection. 



CONVERSION. 31 

Mother promptly got the big Bible, read a few- 
verses, and then I dropped upon my knees and 
offered up the prayer ! Thenceforward the fire 
was kept burning and a daily offering made there- 
on, so long as I was an inmate of my father's house, 
and as often as I returned to it for a temporary 
visit. The news of this new altar to the Lord 
spread among our kindred and neighbors and 
perhaps had some influence in bringing about the 
great change — religiously — which has since come 
over them. Looking backward, from this present, 
over the lapse of fifty and seven years, it seems 
incredible that a boy of fifteen and a half should 
have ventured upon a thing so strange ! so beyond 
his years ! so fraught with responsibility ! Stran- 
ger still it seems when I recall to mind that no 
one ever suggested that such was my duty. Not 
unfrequently a family gathering occurred at our 
house, and there gathered there uncles, aunts, 
cousins and others, and we sat down — a long table 
full of joyful kindred. In a moment all was hushed 
and a blessing asked. There was no sport made 
of it. It was too solemn for that ! So when even- 
ing came the big Bible was brought out, all took 
seats, a chapter read and then the prayer went 
up as usual, nor was it ever omitted because much 
company was there. 

A CALL TO PREPARE TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 

Not long after my conversion I became 
impressed with the conviction that the Lord had 



32 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

called me to preach his Gospel. Gradually, it 
became the theme of earnest prayer. But immense 
difficulties were in the way. How could my father 
spare me from the work on the farm ? He could 
not help me financially should I undertake a course 
of studies. Not one of my kindred were able to 
do it, or if they were able were disposed to do so. 
Nor did I know one person on earth to whom I 
could look for one dollar where ten would be 
needed. Yet the expense of going through the 
three schools necessary — the Academic, Collegiate 
and Theological — would be great. I could not 
do much toward it by my work, while keeping 
along with my classes. Had I not been working 
all the summer at six dollars a month, and the 
highest wages for farm hands were about ten dol- 
lars a month ! The boss workman under whom I 
was working only got eleven dollars a month ! 
While impressed with the call, and praying over 
it, our minister, Rev. Joseph Whiting, visited the 
family where I worked. He inquired for me. 
They would send and call me from the field. No, 
he would go out where I was — he wished to see 
me alone. After a little kindly talk about my 
trials, conflicts, etc., he laid his hand on my shoul- 
der and said so solemnly as the tears filled his eyes : 
"My son, has not the Lord called you into his 
kingdom, to the end that you should preach his 
gospel? And has not the Spirit whispered this to 
you already ?" I could not answer him for the 
moment. How had he got my secret? I had not 



CONVERSION. 33 

breathed it to any mortal. At length I confessed 
it was so. That it was on my mind much of the 
time, but the way seemed all hedged up. Where 
could I get the means ? It was doubtful if my 
father would consent till I was of age, — six years 
hence ! He replied that once he felt as I now did. 
But God had removed one obstacle after another 
and had led him through the long course of studies 
and into the ministry. His words were so ten- 
derly dropped upon my ear, his experience so 
timely, his counsels so wise, that when he left the 
field he left a youth behind, hopeful and joyous, 
and with purpose settled, to reach the ministry if 
he could. Dear, blessed man of God ! to this day 
I feel the influence of your words, the impulse of 
your love. Subsequently, he helped me by his 
counsels, by books lent, by hearing me recite, and 
teaching me the rudiments of Latin and Greek. 
An immense debt of gratitude yet remains unpaid 
and unspoken to this dear man, this father of my 
early spiritual life. 

"By and by we will go home and meet him 
Away over in the promised land." 

The first step was to secure the consent of my 
parents, and the donation of my time, from sixteen 
and onward. My father was not very strong and 
my brother was by no means rugged at that time, 
while I was hardy, strong, and capable of great 
endurance. How could they spare me? Hard it 
was for them and hard for me to ask it. But at 



34 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

length consent was given and I entered the Epis- 
copal Academy in Cheshire. At first I boarded 
at home, two miles distant, working Saturdays on 
the farm, and paying my tuition by ringing the 
bell, sweeping the rooms, building the fires, etc., etc. 
By and by some friends in the village, wishing to 
save me my long walk, offered to board me for my 
work mornings and evenings, and so I went for- 
ward toward the goal. 

PERSECUTION FOR TEMPERANCE. 

In the latter part of the autumn of 1832 a lec- 
turer on temperance visited our place and ad- 
dressed a large congregation on the evils of intem- 
perance, the feasibility of total abstinence, the 
utility of the pledge, and the necessity of immedi- 
ate action. There were abundant reasons for such 
a movement in our place. We had eight distilleries 
of cider brandy in full blast, from twenty to thirty 
cider mills, half a dozen taverns all selling brandy 
and whiskey at three cents a glass. All the stores 
kept it and there was scarce a well-to-do family in the 
township but boasted a sideboard sacred to strong 
drink and wherein were stored from five to ten 
kinds of liquor, catering to the tastes of the various 
visitors who called upon them. No sooner had a 
guest arrived and been fairly seated than they were 
set forth before him and he was urged and expected 
to partake of such as he chose. It was an insult 
not to ask him to drink. It was scarcely less to 
refuse to drink. Then too, cider, worked cider, 



CONVERSION. 35 

"hard cider" it was properly called, was the com- 
mon drink of the people. They drank it at the 
table, they drank it between meals, they carried it 
in bottles to the fields. Liquor ran free in those 
days. A very millennium of no license! I think if 
some of our good temperance people, who execrate 
the taxing of the selling business, where we cannot 
carry prohibition, or carrying it cannot execute the 
law, if they had lived in those good old days, when 
no license prevailed, they would hold as I do, if you 
cannot stop the sale entirely, you should restrict 
it and cripple it all you can. Was it strange then 
that drunkenness was in every other family nearly ? 
Was it strange then that my mother and I counted 
over fifty drunkards within the circle of our ac- 
quaintance ? I mean people who occasionally 
staggered and talked boosily through strong drink? 
Was it strange, that in one winter we buried ten 
men who had died with delirium tremens, out of 
a population of 2,000 people ? Well, the address 
aforesaid was able and was heard by a large audi- 
ence. At its close Squire Foot, my Sabbath school 
teacher, arose and made a speech, and at once 
drew up a pledge, signed it, and presented it to 
the audience. This was the first hard blow the 
liquor interest received, for everybody loved 
Squire Foot. He had won his way to the public 
heart by his irreproachable character, his agree- 
able manners, and his ready and often unpaid 
advocacy of the cause of the poor and of him who 
had no helper. While not a few signed the pledge, 



36 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

the opposition was open, outspoken, contempt- 
uous, and even savage. In the academy which 
I attended, a meeting was held to denounce the 
Temperance movement. A resolution was passed, 
that if any student should sign the pledge, he 
should be ridden on a rail through the principal 
street of the town. 

The academy at that time was little else than a 
Southern school in a Northern town. The students 
were largely sons of Southern planters, or from the 
West Indies. These young bloods dominated the 
meeting which passed the resolutions referred to. 
I well knew of this action before I had signed the 
pledge. But not having the fear of these young 
hoodlums before my eyes, I signed it on the first 
opportunity. The next Monday morning, hasten- 
ing over my two-mile walk, I had reached the 
academy and was making the fire, when in rushed 
seven of the largest students bearing a rail! Shout- 
ing simultaneously, they ordered me to submit to 
my fate of being ridden on a rail ! For some 
moments I stood them off, and asked what harm I 
had done to them ? I said the school would open 
in half an hour, I must ring the bell, make the fire, 
and sweep the room. If they must do it, take some 
other time. But they swore great oaths that they 
would do it now. I saw clearly, I must either fight 
them with something more than words, or submit 
to be carried on a rail through the long street! 
The thought was terrible ! to be thus shamefully 
abused by these young mobocrats ! to be hooted 



CONVERSION. 37 

at by the inmates of each tavern I passed ! To be 
followed by a pack of boys and pelted perhaps, 
with mud balls and stones ! to be sneered at by 
servant girls, prompt to please their masters, leer- 
ing out of the windows and shouting, "Good enough 
for you, young temperance fanatic !" All this was 
rapidly passing in my mind, as for a time I kept 
them at bay, deliberating what I should do. There 
were seven against me. But little I cared for that. 
I knew I could make it hot for them, and so did 
they, if I should really undertake it. But I had 
become a Christian, and they counted largely on 
a passive submission. I too, was troubled as to 
what was my duty and my right. Did not the 
Book say : "Resist not evil," etc., etc.? But the 
thought came over me, "It is your duty to put this 
house in order for the school ! The powers that 
be require it ! You have agreed to do it and 
you have no right to let these hoodlums prevent 
it if you can help it !" Instantly my duty was 
clear. It was to thrust them out of my way as I 
would a pack of dogs, or so many swine in the way 
of my duty. A back-handed stroke sent one 
assailant against a bench over which he fell heavily, 
striking on his head. Seizing the rail I thrust it 
back against the wall, almost crushing out the 
bowels of him who stood at that end and held it. 
This put two out of the fight. The rail was 
dropped, and now the fight commenced in earnest. 
How long it continued I don't know. In the 
course of it I was pushed against the brick wall 



38 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

with such force that a large bunch instantly rose 
on my head. Recovering I seized a large iron 
inkstand, before which my opponents shied and 
fled before me out of the house and ran in every 
direction ! But though left alone I was too dizzy 
to do my work. Soon one of the teachers arrived, 
and seeing my swollen head, my bloody hands, 
the rail lying on the floor, the seats overturned, 
and other signs of a big melee, thought I had best 
go to the doctor's. But I went directly to Squire 
Foot, my Sabbath school teacher, and for once 
I saw him brimful of wrath. In less than an hour 
a writ of arrest for assault and battery was in the 
sheriff's hands and a posse were searching private 
residences and hiding places, and even the acad- 
emy, for the miscreants. There was no school in 
the academy that day, and there was some excite- 
ment over the affray in our usually quiet village. 
The temperance people of course took my side. 
They were glad the hoodlums were defeated. 
Seven of them tried in vain to ride one temperance 
boy on a rail ! The law abiding thought the 
roughs had learned a lesson. On the whole, I do 
not think the cause of religion suffered at all from 
my vigorous use of the strong muscles and hard 
hands the Lord had given me. After that the 
students treated me respectfully, not deeming it 
quite prudent to presume very largely on my being 
a non-resistant. Subsequent reflection has led me 
to the conclusion, that the words of Jesus, which 
refer to this subject, really enjoin, as the general 



CONVERSION. 39 

rule of Hie, just what the civil laws of most civilized 
nations require, to wit — that in all ordinary cases 
of collision with our fellow citizens, we are not to 
adjudge the case ourselves, or mete out judgment 
and justice with our own hands. We are too par- 
tial, too much personally interested. We are to 
suffer the wrong and leave it to be adjudicated by 
the impartial tribunals appointed for that purpose. 
That there are exceptions to this rule all admit, 
but neither the Bible nor the civil law specify just 
what they are. Before the trial came off my assail- 
ants settled with me, giving me quite a bonus to 
do so, and paying all the costs. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 

The following spring, under the advice of my 
pastor, I went to Phillips Academy, Andover, 
Mass. When I arrived there I had but seven dol- 
lars in my pocket. Out of this I had to pay a five 
dollar entrance fee ; this left me but two dollars 
with which to commence a two years' course of 
study in a place where I knew not a soul, and 
where I had no friend save the Lord. But I was 
kindly received and trusted, even to my board in 
the commons. Work fell into my hands immedi- 
ately, such as sawing wood, gardening, well-dig- 
ging, chopping wood, etc. These jobs I did 
between school hours, on Saturdays and in vaca- 
tions. After a couple of terms friends began to 
appear to help me. The Education Society gave me 
$60 a year. The church in my native town hear- 
ing a good report from my teachers, of my life 
and progress, voted me an annual aid of $50. I 
was progressing finely and had nearly completed 
my preparation for college when an event oc- 
curred which for a time blasted all my hopes and 
prospects of entering college the following autumn, 
at least. This was. 

(40) 



PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 41 

THE GREAT ANTI-SLAVERY REVIVAL. 

This occurred in the years 1834-5. It swept 
over the United States and was especially power- 
ful in the schools of learning, the colleges and 
seminaries, where were gathered the young men 
who were soon to go forth and mold public opin- 
ion and prepare the nation for the coming conflict, 
that battle of Armageddon in which slavery was to 
be overthrown, and cast into the bottomless pit. 
It was in that revival that I was converted to the 
doctrine of immediate emancipation, and this is 
how it was brought about : The literary society 
in the academy to which I belonged had selected 
as a question for discussion, this : "Is the Ameri- 
can Colonization Society competent to deal with 
the matter of American Slavery ?" I was appointed 
to speak on the affirmative, one Horace Eaton on 
the negative. Eaton had the name of being a 
rabid Abolitionist, a " fanatic " as such were then 
called. The Colonization Society, presided over 
by Hon. Henry Clay, was immensely popular, 
North and South, and nowhere more so than in the 
churches and among the ministers. It was Janus 
faced, it looked in two opposite directions. In 
the Northern States it was looked upon as the great 
antidote for the evil of slavery. It was to estab- 
lish a colony of freed men on the coast of Liberia, 
Africa, and there it was to transport black people, so 
fast as they could be freed, and educate and Chris- 
tianize them. More and more were to be trans- 



42 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

ported, year by year, till by and by every negro 
should be restored to Africa, and that country was 
to be civilized and evangelized. In the slave 
States it was regarded a happy scheme for getting 
rid of black men who were free, and carrying them 
out of sight of their brethren in bonds ; no more to 
incite the slave to run away or to shield and shel- 
ter him after he had fled. My honored pastor was 
a strong advocate of colonization, that is of its 
Northern phase. He had little patience with the 
little Abolition clique, which just then was begin- 
ing to disturb the nation's slumber, over the crater 
of slavery. I regarded myself as a colonizationist, 
but I hated slavery. The stories my father had told 
of slave hunts with hounds and horses, and shot guns 
and pistols ; the scenes of slave auctions and whip- 
pings and brandings; though they seemed necessary 
to him, and in the main right, they grated harshly 
on my ear. Indignantly I asked "What for?" and 
denounced the cruelty, and claimed the slave had 
as good a right to liberty as his master. No cas- 
uistry had yet been allowed to impose on my com- 
mon sense, or override my spontaneous sense of 
justice. Well, such was the question we were to 
discuss. I was expected to make a good showing 
for the popular side, colonization. Documents 
were at hand and I thought I made a fair speech, 
but Eaton handled my arguments without gloves. 
He was not a genial speaker, but his logic was to 
my mind quite forcible. I replied to him and was 
applauded, the sympathies were all on my side, 



PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 43 

but I went home dissatisfied. The debate was 
adjourned over to the next week, and I was to 
open it on that evening. During the week I was 
greatly perplexed in my endeavor to answer Eaton, 
and sustain colonization. Brief after brief I con- 
structed and then threw away. At last I began 
to feel that I was fighting against the truth. I 
knelt and asked the Lord to show me the truth, 
and promised I would receive it and advocate it 
whatever it might cost. Within a few hours all 
was clear, the fallacy of the colonization scheme, 
and the duty of immediate emancipation. Then 
there passed before me the cost of the step I had 
taken, the loss of friends, of reputation, of pecuni- 
ary helps, perhaps the necessity of giving up fur- 
ther study, possibly the ministry, too, to which I 
was looking forward. What else the step involved, 
who could tell ! Was not Rev. Chas. Torry, a Con- 
gregational minister, pining away in a Maryland 
prison because he was an Abolitionist, his right 
hand branded with the letters S. S. — slave stealer 
— or as his friends translated them, S. S. — sinner 
saved? Were not $50,000 offered for the head of 
Garrison by the legislature of South Carolina? 
Did not a pro-slavery mob control, not only every 
Southern State, but Boston itself ? What else there 
was in store for Abolitionists, who could tell. 
Well ! Be it so. T was no better than the martyrs ; 
why should I be exempt from suffering for the 
truth's sake ? I kept my counsels. The evening 
for reopening the discussion came on. What a 



44 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

pressure was on me ! I opened the debate and 
took up Mr. Eaton's argument No. I, examined it 
carefully, and at length, as I laid it down, said: 
" Candor compels me to confess that, so far as I 
can see, that argument is a good one, and I have 
no heart to dispute it." Eaton left his seat and 
came and sat down before me, and looked me fully 
in the face. I then took up argument No. 2, 
reviewed and accepted that also. Eaton's eyes 
brightened and he moved a little nearer. I then 
reviewed some of my own arguments of the even- 
ing previous, and showed their fallacy, and how 
unsatisfactory they were. I then laid down my 
brief and told to my astonished schoolmates the 
story of my perplexity during the week, my prayer 
for light, my promise to the Lord to follow the 
light, to confess it, to stand by it at any cost, how- 
ever great. How also, thereupon, the light came 
in, and I saw the matter as I never saw it before. 
I then announced myself an Abolitionist, with all 
the losses of good name and friends it might imply. 
Eaton could stand it no longer ; springing to his 
feet, he embraced me and cried out, " Thank God 
for an honest man !" 

' I had many friends in the institution, and they 
did not desert me. Very candidly they conversed 
with me ; one after another came over to our views, 
till, within two or three months, a majority of our 
200 students in the academy preparing for college, 
more than one-half, were avowed Abolitionists ! 
Meanwhile our beloved instructors and the pro- 



PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 45 

fessors in the Theological Seminary were all hard 
at work endeavoring to suppress the rising senti- 
ments of hostility to American slavery. But the 
Lord was in the movement, and how could they 
resist its onward course? At this juncture, George 
Thompson, the famous English anti-slavery orator, 
visited Andover. He was advertised to lecture 
in the Methodist Church. I think no other church 
could be secured for him. A mob had just driven 
him from Boston, and wherever he went the hand 
of violence was raised against him. It was hoped 
he could be quietly heard in Andover. Was it not 
the school of the Prophets and noted for its morality 
and for its religious spirit ? So Thompson came, 
but, as with Paul, bonds and affliction awaited him 
there. A railroad was being built through the 
place. The contractor was a rough pro-slavery 
character, and not a few roughs were in his 
employ. It was boldly given out that a mob 
would break up the meeting and probably tar and 
feather Mr. Thompson. The anti-slavery students 
got wind of it, and armed with heavy hickory 
clubs, which they used as staves, they were at the 
chapel as soon as the doors were opened and took 
possession of a couple of tier of front seats, which 
formed nearly a semicircle around the pulpit. As 
the house filled up the ushers besought us to 
vacate them and give place to ladies, but we knew 
our business, and not one of us could be ousted. 
There were about fifty of us, nearly all over 
twenty, the most of us farmers' sons, and with our 



46 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

long staves or clubs standing erect by our sides, I 
imagine the mobocratic portion of the audience 
studied us rather carefully. The speech was surpas- 
singly eloquent. 1 remember some of -its passages, 
one of them, his apostrophe to America, was very 
striking ; it began with : " America ! America ! 
Thou art the anointed cherub, God's darling 
child ! Apart from the nations God hath set thee ! 
etc." It fairly raised the audience to its feet. The 
lecture was two hours long. When it closed, in an 
instant every light was blown out, and the mob 
rushed for the pulpit. But those fifty students 
closed around Thompson and Wilson the Metho- 
dist minister, in phalanx so compact, and with clubs 
brandished so threateningly that the mob kept 
at respectful distance and finally dispersed. We 
saw Wilson and Thompson safe at home. After 
consultation it was agreed that six should stay 
down town (South Parish) and patrol the streets 
till morning. One should take his station half 
way up the hill toward the Seminary, another 
should take his stand at the corner leading 
to the dormitories of the classical school, the 
rest should retire to their rooms and sleep 
with their clothes on, ready for emergencies. 
1 was one of the six who staid down town. I and 
my companion went into a vacant lot and con- 
cealed ourselves. After an hour or so a signal 
whistle was blown in a distant part of the town. 
It was answered by another, and then by a third 
close by us. We went for him with all speed, but 



PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 47 

he ran like a deer and we lost him. We sounded 
the alarm ! It was taken up by the man half way 
up the hill, he sent it to the man at the corner, and 
he aroused the dormitories. Our squad of six 
guards rushed for Wilson's house and held at 
bay the gathering mob. Scarcely had we got 
there before we heard the tramp, tramp, tramp of 
a hundred students dashing down iindover hill at 
a two-forty pace. And it sounded out on the still 
hour of night like the coming of a regiment of 
cavalry. The mob, most of whom were Irish, 
listened a moment, then broke and fled in every 
direction. Thus was Andover saved from a crime 
against one of the noblest of men, which long years 
of penance could scarce have washed away. 

ORGANIZING AN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 

Up to this time we had not organized an Anti- 
Slavery Society. Fearing that we should do so, 
the faculty of the United Seminaries passed a reg- 
ulation which read like this : "No student shall 
join any society in the town of Andover without 
leave of the principal of the institution with which 
he is connected." Alas ! "The best laid schemes 
of mice and men aft gang aglee !" So it was in 
this case. A student whose room adjoined that 
in which the faculties met and discussed the 
matter, overheard enough to divine what was on 
the tapis. He at once informed us of what was 
up. In half an hour all the principal anti-slavery 
students were gathered in the Methodist chapel 



48 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and then and there formed an Abolition society, 
chose officers, etc., and adjourned ! The following 
Monday morning at prayers we beheld marshaled 
on the platform and around the desk, our four 
principal professors. Usually only one was pres- 
ent. There was something ominous in the air ! 
Principal Johnson's voice was more tremulous than 
was usual. Professor McLane's face was unusually 
red and flushed. Professor Taylor's eyes were 
riveted to the floor, while Professor Sanborn sat 
uneasy and restless in his chair of state. Prayers 
over, Principal Johnson, in agitated tones, read the 
stern decree and then looked over the field to mark 
the effect of the shot ! The other teachers also 
now looked up and took observations. But not a 
wing seemed broken, not a feather ruffled ! We 
all took it serenely and it was noted that the anti- 
slavery leaders looked cross-wise at each other and 
smiled. What could it mean? After the students 
had gone to their rooms for recitations, or to the 
dormitories for study, Principal Johnson called 
up one Peter T. Woodbury, nephew of Hon. Levi 
Woodbury of New Hampshire fame, and asked in 
a confidential tone : "Peter ! what did it mean — 
those complacent smiles and glances between the 
Abolitionists when the new regulation was read?" 
" Why," said Peter brusquely, "they have stolen the 
march on you ! They formed a society last Satur- 
day night and all the Abolitionists joined it !" The 
color left Mr. Johnson's face. Recovering himself, 
he said plaintively : "You have not joined, have 



PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 49 

you Peter ?" " Yes Sir!" said Peter. This was a 
stunner. The next effort was to induce the signers 
to withdraw their names, but without an instance 
of success. These young Abolitionists had been 
converted to stay. They believed in saints' per- 
severance and I have never yet heard of the apos- 
tacy of one of them, or even of their temporary 
falling from grace. Our professors, finding that 
neither coaxing nor flattery nor threatenings would 
do, proceeded to sterner measures. I was sum- 
moned before the Faculty to answer to the charge 
of combining with others, to destroy the good 
name of the academy and bring it into reproach 
before the public, etc., etc. Instead of standing 
on the defensive, I faced the music. I boldly 
charged upon them the sin of seeking to shield 
from exposure and condemnation, the great crime 
of slavery, of exerting themselves to make cowards 
and time-servers of the young men who were soon 
to go forth to help form and reform the opinions 
of mankind. I remember telling them if we were 
cowards here we would be cowards in college, 
cowards in the seminary and cowards in the min- 
istry ! In fact, during that interview I think they 
were in the prisoners' box quite as much as I was. 
At one time they actually all laughed aloud at the 
ridiculous turn the trial had taken. But they had 
resolved to make an example of me, and so they 
cast me out. No specific charges were voted as 
sustained. I was simply voted no longer a member 
of Phillips' academy, and to have no further right 



50 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

to a room or place in the recitation rooms. One 
other was dismissed with me. At once a meeting 
of the anti-slavery students was called, a remon- 
strance was gotten up and published. It was 
signed by some sixty students, all of whom left the 
institution without diplomas or other testimonials 
of character or scholarship. No sooner was I turned 
out of the academy than Mr. McLane wrote my 
pastor in Cheshire. He read the letter to the 
church and they voted not to help me any more. 
The letter from my pastor to me, though quite 
severe, was in parts very tender and parental. 
He regarded the anti-slavery revival as little better 
than a blast from the bottomless pit. I remember 
one sentence he used; "Oh, that God would hide 
you in his pavillion till this storm is overpast." 
Dear man ! he was sadly mistaken ! That strong 
wind and "the rushing mighty wind" of the day of 
Pentecost come from the same quarter. Well, he 
sees it now and rejoices with us in the great deliv- 
erance from America's chiefest curse. My reply 
to him was said to be rather spirited. I kept no 
copy of it, but one who was present when it was 
received and heard it read told me that when the 
good pastor came to a place where I wrote, "Money 
given by a church on condition of keeping silence 
about slavery is not fit to buy a potter's field with," 
he laughed heartily and said: "He is plucky ! is 
he not?" The Education Society also withdrew 
its aid and I was now cast upon my own resources 
again. 



PHILLIPS ACADEMY, ANDOVER. 5 1 

But I had two hands, the consciousness of being 
on the right side and an abiding faith that the 
Lord would in some way bring me out of all my 
troubles. I at once sold my books, paid my debts 
and then went out among the farmers seeking work. 
But the brand of "fanatic" was upon me and people 
were reluctant to employ me. But a rough out- 
spoken man by name of Holt said he did not think 
much of student farmers, but I looked stout and 
he would give me a trial. He took me to a meadow 
to mow grass with him. Before noon he quit, 
saying he was not going to mow while he had so 
good a hand. He took quite a fancy to me and 
much he talked in the stores and taverns about his 
expelled student, his strength and skill in farming. 
Friends began to gather around me. Two or 
three lawyers offered to lend me money if I would 
study law. But I told them if I plead any law it 
would be the law of God, that really I had no 
heart for anything else. 

About this time I received an invitation from 
one Kimball of Maine, to come to his school. But 
just as I was about to start word was received 
that an anti- Abolition mob had brokea up his school. 
Coming home from the field one evening, Mr. 
Holt said : "There has been a man to see you 
to-day, who is an Abolitionist like you and he wants 
to see you and if he takes a liking to you, you will 
not lack for money to go on with your studies, 
for he is rich and liberal. His name is John Smith 
— money Smith we call him. He is the chief owner 



52 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

of Fry village and the factory there. He will call 
this evening." Well ! he did call and wished to 
hear the story of my expulsion. I narrated it to 
him. He asked me many questions and several 
times used his handkerchief freely, wiping his eyes. 
He wished me to call the next day at his office, he 
wished to introduce me to his partners. I went 
and was there put through a course of questions 
which showed they did not mean to be imposed 
upon. I was asked to call again some days after. 
They went after the seminary folks and found my 
statements were true. When I called again they 
only asked where I wished to take my College 
course. I preferred Oberlin, the new anti-slavery 
institution in Ohio, and where I could do something 
to pay my way. How much would I need to start 
with? One hundred dollars. They gave me one 
hundred and fifty, and I gave them my note. It 
was payable only after I had finished my course 
of studies, and not then in case I entered the min- 
istry. What a burden here rolled off my back! 
Joyfully I retraced my steps to Mr. Holt's, packed 
my trunk and the next day was off for Oberlin. 



CHAPTER V. 

OBERLIN COLLEGE. 

From Andover I took stage for Troy, New 
York ; from Troy to Buffalo, by canal ; from Buf- 
falo to Cleveland, Ohio, by steamboat ; from Cleve- 
land to Elyria, by stage, and thence to Oberlin, ten 
miles, on foot through a dense forest. How new, 
how wild, how weird and how chimerical the new 
enterprise looked, as I emerged from the dense, 
dark forest into the little clearing. The entire 
opening was scarce half a mile square, and that 
full of stumps, logs, fallen trees, fireweed and 
smoke. Yet there were men there, and women too. 
Some of the former were chopping down great 
trees, some with oxen hauling logs together to 
burn, some building log houses, some sowing 
grain and endeavoring to harrow it in, despite the 
roots and stumps. Ever and anon a tinkling bell 
called quite a flock of young men and women from 
their rooms to recitation, and sent as many back 
from recitation to study. For some hours I wan- 
dered round the clearing as a stranger taking in 
the situation. But I observed that every one was 
cheerful and hopeful, and unusually polite to 
strangers. Though not a soul knew me in the place, 
save one, no one passed me without a gentle bow 

(53) 



54 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and a kindly look, which seemed to say, " Call 
upon me if I can help you." A stranger to whom 
I introduced myself invited me to commons as the 
supper bell rang, and I went. It was a very plain 
meal; boiled potatoes, milk gravy, wheat bread 
and brown bread and butter, was about all there 
was of it. But there was no complaint, no dissat- 
isfied looks and no criticisms. Nearly all seemed 
happy and even thankful, and regarded themselves 
as privileged beyond the common w r alks even of 
the student's life. And indeed they were, for God, 
who from the first set the seal of his love upon 
Oberlin, was there, diffusing peace and joy and 
holy love in nearly every heart. The following day 
I introduced myself to President Mahan and told 
him I came from Andover and wished to enter 
college. A Faculty meeting was called and I pre- 
sented myself. My papers were called for. I had 
none. Why ? I told the story of my expulsion on 
account of my anti-slavery views and action. 
Prof. Dascomb, whose relative was principal of 
the English school at Andover, expressed doubt 
of the truth of my statements. This nettled me 
somewhat, so I went farther and stated other 
things against his relative, more detrimental than 
the first. Dr. Dascomb was instructed to write 
to Andover and ask why my papers were with- 
held. Meanwhile I was allowed to enter the Fresh- 
man class, conditionally. No answer was returned 
to Dr. Dascomb's letter. He wrote again and the 
reply came that they had no specific charges to 



OBERLIN COLLEGE. 55 

make against the young man, and if Oberlin could 
make a useful man of him they should be glad of 
it. So I was received into college. The accom- 
modations, so far as rooms were concerned, were, 
at the first, very plain and often quite uncomfor- 
table. My room was, at the first, what might be 
called the attic or garret of a woodshed. It was a 
rough, one-story shed. Some joists were laid 
across overhead, and rough slabs were laid across 
them ; the roof made the ceiling on two sides, and 
some thin factory cloth partitioned me off from 
another's claim. I could stand upright in the mid- 
dle. There it was that I at the first set up my 
banners, and there I commenced my student life 
at Oberlin. But I was happy, for I was free, and 
literally I sang : 

" Oh, give me but a hollow tree, 
A crust of bread and liberty." 

Largely I supported myself by chopping wood, 
clearing land and teaching school. One winter I 
acted as agent for the Cuyahoga County Bible So- 
ciety. Meanwhile I kept up a correspondence 
with Messrs. Smith & Dove of Andover, and oc- 
casionally received from them fifty dollars. 

A NEW PHASE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 

During the latter part of my Sophomore year, 
I passed through a phase of religious experience, 
whose influence has followed me down to the pres- 
ent time, a period of more than half a century. In 



56 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

my early Christian life, such were my besetments, 
my natural impulses, sinward, and the great obsta- 
cles in my way, that I felt that none could help me 
but the Lord ; and on Him I leaned, and to Him 
I looked daily and hourly, for help. Nor did I 
look in vain. I was wonderfully upheld. I was 
divinely assisted. The life I lived was by faith in 
the Son of God. But as I grew in experience and 
knowledge, I began, gradually, to lose my sense 
of dependence on God, and unconsciously to lean on 
my power of will, my habits and my surround- 
ings. This was particularly true when I went to 
Andover. Was it not famous as a school of the 
Prophets? Were not moral and religious princi- 
ples predominant there? Two-thirds of my class- 
mates were members of the church ; one-half were 
preparing for the ministry, and several had the 
missionary field in view ! " Surely," said I, " here 
I shall live a devoted and holy life ; the circum- 
stances are so favorable /" 

hus I began, insensibly, to lean upon my sur- 
roundings, and not upon Christ ! The result was 
immediate stumbling and falling at almost every 
obstacle. Old sins, which I had fancied were 
slain, revived again. Like the tribes of Canaan, 
which Israel fancied they had suppressed forever 
— soon after they went over Jordan — they ap- 
peared again on the scene, and regained their lost 
territory. Again and again I rallied against them 
— resolved and re-resolved, wrote out my resolu- 
tions, like Edwards; took solemn oaths in relation 



OBERLIN COLLEGE. 57 

to them ; tried the virtue of fastings ; read reli- 
gious biographies and other religious works, and 
did other things, but all to no purpose. More and 
more I fell under the power of sin ; more and 
more I realized I was the slave of sin. For nearly 
two years I coursed up and down in the seventh 
chapter of Romans. Stopping ever and anon, and 
looking up to heaven I cried out, " Oh ! wretched 
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body 
of death ? " My temper, naturally serene, now be- 
came chafed and irritated. I was dissatisfied with 
everybody, and most of all, with myself. In this 
state of mind I went to Oberlin, and fondly hoped 
that the preaching of Finney and Mahan would 
bring me relief. So far from this, those wondrous 
sermons only raised my ideal of the life I ought 
to live, but left my real life more unsatisfactory 
than ever. 

During the first part of my Sophomore year my 
mental distress was such that I sometimes wished 
I had never been born. In one of our society de- 
bates I used language toward my opponent which 
was harsh and sarcastic. He felt it keenly, for we 
had always been on friendly terms. And I too, 
charged it to the account of a temper, which of 
late, had become ungovernable. 

After the debate I retired sullenly to my room 
and taking from my desk my book of Resolutions, 
I wrote with a heavy hand two resolutions like 
these : 

" Resolved, That for one day I will set a double 



$8 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

guard at the door of my lips, and that I will thor- 
oughly test my ability to live twenty-four hours 
without uttering one angry word. 

" Resolved, Further, That should I find myself 
unable to keep so simple a resolution, directed 
against a single sin, then I will give up the strug- 
gle and drift with the tide." 

As I finished this sentence, there was a knock 
at my door, and there entered the student I had 
abused by those sharp words. He expostulated 
with me for the sharp words I had used in the de- 
bate ; said he did not expect them from me. I 
asked, in sarcastic tones, did he ever know a man 
worsted in a debate, who thought he had been well 
treated. Alas! I saw in an instant I had already 
broken the resolution I had just written! 

I was standing at my desk, and my hand was 
yet between the leaves of the book to keep the 
freshly written words from blotting. I now drew 
it out. My friend could get nothing more out of 
me and left me. When he had gone, I opened the 
book and lo ! the opposite page was blotted! I threw 
down the book, saying, u Such resolutions may 
have helped Edwards, but with me they are of no 
account. They are broken reeds on which if one 
leans, it pierces his hand, and I will rely on them 
no more." 

I omitted my usual evening prayer that night, 
and I lay down well nigh in despair. The next 
morning I rose up restless and reckless. My les- 
sons were imperfectly prepared and carelessly re- 



OBERLIN COLLEGE. 59 

cited. My patient instructors at length reproved 
me, but I answered back sullenly, defiantly. I was 
called before the Faculty ; they talked with me, so 
kindly, but I gave them no promises of doing bet- 
ter. If they wished to expel me from college, do 
it, I did not care how soon. Why was I so reck- 
less? Because I was the servant of sin. Satan 
was my master ; what else could befall me, or what 
worse ? Seeing how it was with me, they kindly 
resolved to bear with me, assured, as they after- 
ward said, that God would ultimately lead me out 
and set my feet in a large place. He did so, and 
thus it came about: 

I began now to reason from a new standpoint, 
and I said, " The man who is the slave of sin, has 
no business to preach the gospel. Unto the 
wicked, God said, What hast thou to do to declare 
my statutes ? I cannot point men to Christ as a 
Saviour, when he is no Saviour to me. Should I 
do so, and they should turn to me and ask, ' Does 
He save you from sinning? ' and I said ' No,' what 
faith would they have in me or my message? 
No ; the idea of preaching must be abandoned. 

" But if unfit to preach, clanking, as you do, 
the fetters of sinful habits, are you fit to go in with 
God's free peeple and sit down at the table of the 
Lord ? What is the meaning of the act of eating 
that bread and drinking of that cup ? Is it not a 
public profession that your spirit is fed and made 
strong by Christ, and that you are in covenant 
with Him ? But you are not made strong morally 



60 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

by Christ. There is no evidence of his being in 
covenant with you. Your profession at the table 
is a false one, and you have no business there. 

"Well, what of membership in the church? 
Your unhappy life, your inconsistencies, your 
downward tendencies will make your church mem- 
bership a dishonor to the church and void of ben- 
efit to you." I must leave the church. 

" Well, what of religious duties, prayer, for 
example? Is prayer without faith acceptable? 
1 Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.' When I pray 
for help to overcome temptation, I have no confi- 
dence that my prayer will be answered. I must 
then, give up prayer and drift with the tide, for 
prayer does not help me. It may help others, but 
in my case, it is like medicine to one moribund, in 
whom the constitutional basis has fallen out, and 
the medicine, however good in ordinary cases, 
cannot help him. ' Can the Ethiopian change his 
skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may those ac- 
customed to do evil, learn to do well. ' " 

It was hard to give up prayer. But I saw no 
good to arise from it in such a case as mine. And 
here, a singular thought took possession of my 
mind. It was, that it was not a decent treatment of 
God, after all he had done for me, to turn my back 
upon his altars, to visit them no more, without one 
word of acknozvlcdgment of m} r obligation to Him 
for all the past. Would it be honorable thus to 
leave an earthly benefactor, the words of grati- 
tude unspoken ? No, no ; I would not leave my 



OBERLIN COLLEGE. 6l 

Maker thus. Once more I would visit His altars, 
and there I would enumerate such of His special 
favors to me as I could call to mind ; I would thank 
Him for them, and express my regret they had 
not availed to redeem and sanctify a nature so per- 
verse as mine. This done, I would leave the throne 
of grace forever ! 

For some weeks I lived without prayer, yet I 
was reluctant to come to that last prayer! I would 
take my time for it, and I made some preparation 
for it. As there occurred to my mind special mer- 
cies and blessings of God to me, I jotted them 
down upon a sheet of paper. A page was filled ; 
then another, and I was surprised at their number 
and magnitude, too. 

After much delay 1 came to an afternoon of 
leisure and I said, This is as good a time as any. 
So I locked my door, drew down the curtains, and 
spread out the sheet before me, containing the list 
of mercies I was to enumerate in this my last 
prayer. Finding my fickle, emotional nature 
greatly moved by the thought of this being my 
last and farewell visit to my Father's house, I 
remember to have asked the Lord to quench for- 
ever these vain emotions in my heart. For they 
had arisen in like manner a thousand times before, 
incited within a temporary hope of victory and 
improvement, only to be followed by an enslave- 
ment more absolute than ever. And I hated my 
rising feelings, because long experience had shown 
they were as unstable as water. I now took up 



62 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

the first item, my birth in a Christian land. What 
a privilege, what a blessing ; then for life in this 
age of revivals and of light, this nineteenth cen- 
tury ; I thanked Him for a praying mother and 
sister, each so self-forgetful and so earnest for my 
salvation ; for my faithful Sabbath school teacher ; 
for my early pastor ; for my conversion, and helps 
so many thus far received in seeking an educa- 
tion. From these side helps I turned to God him- 
self, my best and infinitely greatest friend. Had 
he not made me with his own loving hands ? Had 
he not endowed me with an endless being ? Had he 
not given me faculties capable of infinite expansion? 
Was it not in his heart to make me His loving child, 
an heir of God and a joint heir of Jesus Christ? 
" Lost by my sin, did he not give his Son for my 
ransom?" In my perversity and fickleness what 
patience had followed me, even till- now, and was 
He not even at this moment waiting to be gracious ? 
About to break away from his arms in my despair, 
did I not hear Him say, " How can I give thee up, 
Ephraim? How shall I set thee as Admah ! How 
make thee as Zeboim ! My heart is turned within 
me !" The path to the throne of grace had been 
deeply trodden by me, and how could I now leave 
it to return no more ? While I lingered the ques- 
tion arose, Cannot an infinite God save a case so 
desperate as mine ? Of course he could were he 
disposed to do so, and do it as easily as the ocean 
can float a feather on its heaving bosom. Oh ! if 
he were only willing ! But is he not? And, if not, 



OBERLIN COLLEGE. 63 

what is the meaning of this array of mercies I have 
just recounted ? What, too, mean the great prom- 
ises of the Bible to the worst of sinners, the most 
desperate conditions ? Did Jesus ever come across 
a case of disease so desperate that he could not 
cure the patient when he besought his help? No, 
there is a way in which I could be saved if only 1 
could find it. Will he not take my hand and lead 
me to it. " There is a path the vulture's eye hath 
not seen, and the lion's whelp has not trodden." I 
will ask him to take my hand and lead me to it, I 
know his loving heart cannot reject me, nor throw 
back my outstretched palm. Hope now began to 
spring up in my heart. My conception was that 
there was an experience, a baptism of the Spirit, over 
yonder, which once received would so vitalize my 
spiritual nature that thenceforth the flesh would be 
suppressed, and victory would be easy and uniform. 
But not so did I find relief. But, nevertheless, 
with this idea dominant, 1 asked the Lord to take 
me and lead me to the great blessing, victory over 
sin. I arose, adjusted my room and started off, 
leaning wholly on Christ's arm. The bell rang for 
supper, and I asked the Lord to go with me there, 
and keep me till I returned. I hoped, also, some 
word dropped there would prove a key to the great 
treasure. I returned and thanked him for keeping 
me during that short period ; then I asked him to 
keep me till morning ; then to help me prepare for 
recitation, and so on from one stage to another 
through the day, and so on till two weeks had 



64 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

passed, all the time looking ahead for some special 
experience from which I should date my emanci- 
pation, my entrance upon the liberty of the sons of 
God. One day a very devout student overtook 
me in one of my walks, and linking his arm in 
mine said, " Brother B., I have observed a won- 
drous change in you during the last two weeks. 
Tell me ! Has not the Lord been doing wondrous 
things for you? And if he has I will bless his 
name forever." I told him how God was leading 
me forward toward the great blessing and how won- 
drously he was keeping me from my besetting sins. 
Then he said, " Why ! ' Brother, you have got the 
blessing now. For what is it you are seeking but 
victory over sin, and that he has been giving you for 
two weeks past." Then I saw that " This is the 
victory that overcometh the world, even our 
faith." I had returned to my first love, I was now 
as then, no more leaning on circumstances, Chris- 
tian society, resolutions, etc., to help me, but 
wholly on Christ \ and now, as then, I was kept by the 
power of God. I remember that when hope began 
to dawn afresh, I said, " If the Lord shall keep me, 
and give me victory over sin, then shall I know 
that he can keep others too, whatever their estate. 
I will go to the drunkard, who has broken his 
pledge a hundred times, and will say to him, ' As 
sure as you live, Christ will keep you if you will 
cast yourself upon him and follow his leading. / 
know it, for he has kept me. r " 

Fifty years have come and gone since the 



OBERLIN COLLEGE. 65 

scene thus described at length, transpired. But 
the lesson I then learned of human weakness, and 
the inadequacy of all human helps in the strife 
against sin, has never been forgotten. On the 
other hand the power of Christ to keep the soul 
that leans wholly on him, has grown upon the 
writer, and become the theme that always encour- 
ages and inspires. And in preaching Christ, my 
heart is always strong, when I tell weak and sinful 
men of a Christ, " Who is able to save unto the 
uttermost, all who come unto God by him." How 
could I doubt it, after all he has done for me ? "I 
will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will 
make mention of his name, and of his only." 



CHAPTER VI. 

AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 

Not many months after the great change above 
narrated I went East to my old home in Cheshire, 
Conn., and this is why I made the journey, how I 
made it, and the results. The reason for making 
the journey was that I longed to tell my brethren 
at home of Christ as a Saviour from sinniitg, and to 
warn them against leaning upon moral surround- 
ings, or anything else save help from on high to 
keep them from backsliding, lukewarmness and 
sin. I wanted also to tell them that it was a great 
mistake, and a sad one, to suppose that the joy 
and peace of the convert could not continue, but 
in the nature of things must fade and pass away. 

While praying over the matter I received a 
letter from a Miss Benham, a sister in the church 
in Cheshire, in regard to her brother Welcome. 
She was very anxious for his conversion ; she 
asked me to pray for him ; perhaps to write him. 
She wished I could see him. He had often spoken 
of me and said he liked to hear Mr. Stevens and 
me pray and speak. He believed they were real 
Christians. 

My heart became enlisted in the young man, 
and as I prayed for him the conviction fastened 

(66) 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 6j 

itself upon me that should I go home he would be 
converted, and perhaps become a preacher of the 
Gospel. So in the early autumn I started for 
home. This was in 1837. 

I left Oberlin with but seven dollars in my 
pocket, and the journey exceeded 800 miles. I 
hoped to get some money in Cleveland. I walked 
from Oberlin to Dover, some twenty-five miles, 
the first day. The tavern where I stopped over 
night was full, and I had to sleep upon a bench in 
the barroom. In the course of the evening I 
called upon the pastor of the Congregational 
Church. He inquired about Oberlin, and about 
the new doctrine of Christian perfection now 
being taught there. In the course of our conver- 
sation on the subject I related to him my exper- 
ience and the life of faith I was now living. He 
was deeply affected, and touching my arm signifi- 
cantly, as he left the room, I followed him. He 
led me to the barn and said, " Brother, that bless- 
ing you have received, I want and I must have it. 
I cannot live without it." We bowed together 
in prayer, and I think it was Jacob's wrestling 
with the angel once more repeated on earth as it 
has been a thousand times before ! I think it very 
likely the minister repeated the words, '■ I will not 
let thee go, except thou bless me." I am quite 
certain that prayer-meeting will never be forgot- 
ten by him or me. Years after I heard of him as a 
man of power, and looking back to that night as 
the crisis in his religious life. 



68 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

I resumed my walk the next morning, thanking 
God and taking courage. 

At Cleveland I got no help, so I paid two dol- 
lars out of the seven I had for a deck passage to 
Buffalo, and proceeded. I told the purser on the 
boat I was short of money ; could he furnish me 
some work to pay in part for my passage? He 
said, in substance, Make yourself generally helpful 
and I will pay you what is right. I did so, and 
when I reached Buffalo he paid me, if I recollect 
aright, some shillings more than my fare. 

At Buffalo I took the canal route, walking on 
the towpath all day, and at night I stepped aboard 
a passing canal boat and took a berth. The next 
morning found me some thirty miles further on 
my way, and my fare was only forty -five cents, or 
one and one-half cents a mile. 1 then stepped 
ashore and resumed my walk, eating some crack- 
ers, etc., as I walked along. Taking a cross cut 
through Marcellus I was taken down at that place 
with bilious fever. It had been coming on for 
several days, and when I reached Marcellus I was 
completely prostrated with it, and could proceed 
no further. 

The tavern where I stopped was quite full, and 
the landlord was quite reluctant to take in a sick 
man. He advised me to go to the minister's house. 
Not knowing where else to go I went. I introduced 
myself as a student from Oberlin on my way to my 
home in Connecticut. "Did he know of a family in 
his church where I could be housed and cared for 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 69 

till this attack had subsided, since there was no 
room for me in the tavern?" He could not tell 
me of one ; though many ot his people were rich 
and dwelt in large houses, they were reluctant to en- 
tertain strangers, especially if sick. As for himself 
his house was full, would be glad to entertain me 
but could not. I took it all pleasantly and said 1 
had no doubt I should, in any event, fare as well 
as the Master, and what could a servant ask more. 
So I left, thanking him for his sympathy and 
kind wishes and words, asked him to have no 
solicitude about me for I knew One who possessed 
all power in heaven and in earth, would never leave 
me nor forsake me. I could with difficulty walk or 
even sit up, but I staggered down the steps, bound 
for the hotel again. Before I had proceeded many 
steps I heard a female voice say something very 
earnestly to the minister and he opened the door 
and called me back, saying that his wife insisted 
that she could make room for me. I said " No, 
let me look elsewhere ; I know ministers' families 
are overtaxed by calls of ministers, agents and all 
sorts of people in distress, etc." But as I was 
declining the woman herself came down the steps, 
and insisted on my staying with them, and when 
she added that if I did not she would be deeply 
grieved, I consented. 

Well ! I went in, was taken up stairs and was 
soon on a sick bed. After a severe turn of vomit- 
ing and two or three hours of rest, I was able to 
talk. Ever and anon the good woman flitted in 



yo THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and out of the chamber, ministering to my neces- 
sities. Occasionally this ministering angel „.sat 
down a few minutes by the bedside and fanned my 
fevered brow. Sick as I was my heart was full of 
the joy of God, and the peace which flows like a 
river. And a heart full always seeks suitable 
expression. She became deeply interested ; she 
went and called her husband, and they both sat 
down by me, and we talked of the great salvation. 
Each day and indeed each hour drew our hearts 
more closely together. We did not talk much 
about names, or theories, we talked about things. 
My sickness was short. I was soon able to pur- 
sue my journey. But how endeared to me was 
that family ? They insisted on my staying longer, 
and when I left they both wept and parted with 
me as if I were a brother after the flesh, and more, 
also, than that. Dear friends, I have forgotten 
their names, not their hospitality and their love. 
When I reach the heavenly mansions I shall 
inquire where they are and visit them and talk 
over that short visit, " when I was a stranger and 
they took me in, sick and in want and they minis- 
tered unto me." 

Pursuing my way on the canal line, as I began, 
I reached Albany with just fifty cents in my purse. 
I found there was an opposition line of stages, 
running between Albany and Hartford, Conn. I 
went to one of the offices and found the fare 
between the two places was two dollars. I should 
need the fifty cents I had to buy a little food on 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. yi 

my way. Could they trust me for the fare ? I 
would send it up to their office in Hartford, when 
I reached home. The agent thought not ; I could 
wait till the proprietor of the stage line came in. 
When he came he looked over the list of pas- 
sengers and said, " There is room for him, so take 
him along, I guess he is honest." 

The next evening, just before sundown, when 
near Farmington I got off the stage to take the 
road to Cheshire through Farmington. The sun 
set as I was entering the village, and I turned into 
the first tavern. Taking out the ten cents, all I 
had left, I said to the landlord, " My name is Bris- 
tol, I am on my way from Ohio to Cheshire, and I 
am so near out of money, but I want supper and 
lodging, and perhaps breakfast, and when I get 
home I will send you the money to pay for these 
accommodations." He looked at me searchingly 
and turning away, said his place was not an hospital. 
He did not keep a free lunch and lodging house! 
No tavern could do business and live in that way, 
etc. I went out upon the piazza and looked up 
the street and down the street, doubtful which 
way to go, when I heard a female voice calling 
the landlord back into the kitchen. Directly he 
came out and asked, "Did you say your name was 
Bristol, and that you were from Cheshire?" "Yes, 
sir." " Do you know one Gid, or Gideon Bristol 
there?" "Yes, sir, he is my father." "Your 
father ! Your father !" " Yes." " And you want 
supper and lodging ? Of course you can have it, 



72 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and the best that this house can afford too ! Your 
father has stopped at this house half a hundred 
times ! He is one of my best friends, and no boy 
of his ever asks a meal and lodging here and gets 
turned away ! Not much ! Here Bridget ! Get 
this young man the best supper this house can fur- 
nish, and a good room too !" And then he went 
away muttering other things to himself doubtless, 
to the same effect. So I fared sumptuously that 
night, and after breakfast the next morning I went 
on my way homeward. Thus I found that some- 
times it is a good thing to be the son of your 
father ! 

HOME AGAIN. 

The Saturday evening after reaching home, I 
attended the prayer-meeting held in the vestibule 
of the Congregational Church. I was called upon 
to speak and in doing so told my brethren how I 
began my religious life among them, leaning 
wholly upon Christ and looking constantly to him 
for help in every time of need. How wondrously 
I was upheld. Also, how I began gradually to lean 
upon my resolutions, upon Christian helpers and 
upon my surroundings. How from that point I 
began to decline in spirituality and in power to 
combat my besetting sins and temptation in gen- 
eral. I told them how obstinately I clung to these 
vain helpers, till at last, utterly disheartened and 
despairing of help from man or from myself, I cast 
myself upon Christ as I did in the beginning, and 
said : "Thou canst save, and thou alone." That 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 73 

when I came to this, the same relief which took 
me up and carried me in arms divine, when a lad 
of fifteen, now reappeared and carried me as on 
eagle wings. I threw away my book of resolutions, 
I gave up all reliance on favorable Christian 
society to save me. I looked solely to Jesus. This 
one thing I did. It was now six months since this 
return to my first love and to my first faith. That 
the bliss of those days of first love had returned 
and greatly increased — Jordan overflowed all its 
banks. That I knew of no reason why it might 
not last a lifetime, yes, and forever and ever ! I 
closed by saying : "Come, brethren beloved, let us 
take the hand of Jesus and let us go up higher." 

I was listened to with deep interest, and I 
believe with entire candor. As the meeting broke 
up, quite a number pressed my hand and said : 
"That is what I want, pray for me." The pastor, 
Rev. Erastus Colton, thanked me for those words 
of cheer and words of love, and prayed that they 
might do us all good. His wife too was very cor- 
dial in her greeting and was not in the least afraid 
to ask : "Is there not something in the Gospel for 
me I have not as yet attained unto?" Mr. A. A. 
Stevens, the most intimate and deeply loved friend 
I ever had, then a member of Vale College, was 
at home on a vacation. I told him the interest I 
felt in Welcome Benham and my belief that he 
would be converted and make a useful man. He 
at once entered into full sympathy with me in the 
matter. As the best way of getting hold of him, 



74 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

we agreed to appoint a religious meeting on 
Cheshire street. His devout sister also entered 
into our plans, and agreed to induce Welcome to 
attend the meeting. The next Sabbath notice was 
given out in church, that "brothers Stevens and 
Bristol would hold a religious meeting on Cheshire 
street on such an evening. Doubtless the people 
in that neighborhood, and especially the young 
people, would be glad to hear our College brethren 
talk of the great salvation." Stevens and I were 
much together and before the meeting had agreed 
upon the topic on which we would speak. It was 
to be the goodness of God to us all, and his 
worthiness to be loved, served and trusted. The 
evening came and the house was full. After sing- 
ing and prayer, I rose to speak on the theme agreed 
upon — the goodness of God. In opening, inciden- 
tally I remarked that men treated God as if he 
was a hard master demanding a service exceed- 
ingly hard to render, so hard that they would run 
risks awful to contemplate, rather than render it. 
This led to other thoughts in the direction of human 
hostility to God and his government. On and on 
I was led till I had drawn a portrait of man's 
depravity, ingratitude and guiltiness, such as I had 
never conceived of before. It was a portrait fit 
for devils lost, rather than for men living in a world 
of mercy and salvation. I sat down astonished at 
the strange direction my thoughts had taken, and 
not less at the results at which they had arrived. 
Yet I felt that I had spoken with the manifest help 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 2$ 

of God, and as led by his Spirit. I was reminded 
of a sermon in a similar strain, preached by the 
Elder Edwards at North Hampton, so awful in its 
arraignment of human rebellion, that one of his 
deacons rose up in the midst of it and cried out, 
"Oh, Mr. Edwards! Mr. Edwards! is not God a 
God of mercy f" 

Mr. Stevens followed me, fully intending when 
he rose to turn the thoughts of the people to the 
theme agreed upon — the goodness and mercy of 
God. But he must needs connect his remarks 
with mine, by a slight addenda to its thoughts. 
So he opened by saying, it was indeed true now, 
as before the flood, that the wickedness of man 
was great upon earth. He had thought of other 
ways in which it revealed itself. He mentioned 
one, then another, then another, and on and on fie 
proceeded, describing graphically the downward 
road, till at last he too sat down, like myself, not 
having said one word on the theme agreed upon ! 
How silent that house was when he ceased to 
speak ! I called upon a deacon to pray. He 
declined. Upon others — all wished to be excused. 
We had to close the meeting ourselves. As we 
were about to disperse I said if the people will 
come together one week from this evening we will 
gladly meet with them. A few shook hands with 
us, but the majority scattered immediately for their 
homes, scarcely exchanging a word with each 
other. When we had got by ourselves, Stevens 
grasped my arm nervously and asked : "What on 



?6 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

earth led you off upon that awful theme ?" "Sure 
enough !" said I, "1 don't know ! I cannot account 
for it ! But why did not you, who had ample time 
for reflection, correct the matter, by contrasting 
the love of God with man's alienation, ingratitude 
and sin ? You had a grand opportunity." "Yes, 
yes," said he, "why did I not ? I intended to do so, 
but I got my foot into the rut and I could not 
get it out. But why did you appoint another 
meeting?" said he. "Not one of them will come 
again! They are mad as hornets!" Well! I did 
not like to have the meeting close so. I wanted 
another chance to retrieve the situation. Besides, 
Welcome Benham must be converted. We felt so 
badly about the turn the meeting had taken, that 
we turned aside into a grove and asked the Lord 
to pardon our blunders and help us to regain the 
next evening the lost ground. 

One week from that time we were on our way 
to the Cheshire street schoolhouse. Our expec- 
tation of seeing a good congregation was slight. 
Indeed, we doubted whether the house would be 
lighted at all. We believed we had offended the 
people greatly. Coming in sight of the school- 
house, we saw no light, and concluded our fears 
were realized. But as we drew nigh, we saw the 
house was full; all the seats and benches and desks 
and even the windows were occupied, so was the 
entry way and all the standing room, and a crowd 
was gathered around the door ! 

What could it mean ? We felt that God was 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. ft 

there ; that " This is none other than the house of 
God and the gate of Heaven." With difficulty 
we crowded our way within. A hymn sung, a 
prayer, and I began to speak. My theme was — 
if I remember rightly — " Seeking Jesus ; how to 
seek him, and the certainty of finding him, if 
we seek him with decent earnestness and perse- 
verance." 

To illustrate this, I told the story of the Afri- 
can who went to England under a load of con- 
scious guilt, seeking " The Christian's God who 
paid the debt." It is a simple story, and ordina- 
rily when told, is not very impressive. But not so 
when told this night. The people were greatly 
moved by it. The whole house was in tears. Par- 
tially suppressed sighs were heard all through the 
house, by persons endeavoring to hold down their 
emotions. Before I had finished what I had pre- 
pared to say, I saw clearly the crisis had come, 
and called upon Brother Stevens to pray ; and 
what a prayer that was ! The healing Jesus had 
come into the room, and while he prayed, was wip- 
ing away penitential tears, and saying to one and 
another, " Son, daughter, thy sins are forgiven 
thee." 

As he ended a hand reached through the 
crowd and rested on my shoulder. I turned, and 
lo ! it was the hand of Commodore Andrew Foote, 
son of Ex-Governor Foote and brother of my be- 
loved Sabbath school teacher, heretofore spoken 
of. He it was, who afterward became so famous 



?8 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

as the conqueror of the Rebel forces on the Mis- 
sissippi and branches, with his gunboats. He 
had that day come home on a short furlough, 
and hearing that Brother Stevens and I were to 
hold a meeting that night on Cheshire street, had 
ridden four miles to meet us and attend the meet- 
ing. I drew him into the little vacant spot where 
Brother Stevens and I stood, and said, — 

" Here is our dear Brother Andrew Foote, fresh 
from the ocean. We will hear what he thinks of 
this great salvation." 

He began by saying : " After the clear exhibi- 
tion of the way to find Jesus, and after that prayer 
which carried us all up to the very altar of mercy, 
what can I say but this : Let us, each for himself, 
lay fast hold on eternal life," and after this man- 
ner went on. 

Dear man ! I have never seen him since — one 
of the noblest men who ever trod the quarter-deck. 
Long since he died of a wound from a rebel can- 
non-ball received at Fort Donelson. 

When he ceased to speak, we closed the meet- 
ing. But how loth the people were to part. Some 
twenty persons, it was estimated, that night, in 
that house, found the pearl of great price, and 
sold all and bought it. Welcome Benham was in- 
terviewed and before we let him go he asked us 
to pray for him and promised to pray for himself. 
And now, the people would scarcely let us go home. 
We must stay and visit the inquirers and the con- 
verts, and the people generally, and we did so. 



AN EVENTFUL JOURNEY. 79 

Incidentally I mentioned, in the course of our 
stay there, to a leading person, how badly we felt, 
after our terrible arraignment of the people at the 
first meeting. He looked surprised, and said no 
one looked at it in that light, or as at all objection- 
able in manner or in matter, and that the reason why 
the deacon and others would not pray, was, " We 
all felt so guilty our mouths were stopped." 

From Cheshire street, the work of grace spread 
all over the township, and as the result, I believe 
a hundred or more, united with the Congrega- 
tional Church. 

Among these was Welcome Benham, who soon 
went to Oberlin to commence a course of 
studies, and though prevented from finishing it on 
account of failing health, nevertheless has exerted 
a constant and extended influence in favor of the 
cause he then espoused. He now lives in Meri- 
den, Connecticut ; has long stood at the head of 
the Young Men's Christian Association there, and 
has been about as wholly devoted to the cause, as 
if he were set apart as a preacher of the gospel, 



CHAPTER VII. 

RETURN TO OBERLIN. 

My work seemed to be done; the object for 
which I had revisited my native place accom- 
plished, and I felt that I must retrace my steps and 
resume my studies at Oberlin, so as to overtake 
my class and be able to go on with them in the 
Spring term. So I annonnced to my friends that 
on such a day I expected to start on my return to 
Oberlin. 

My mother asked, " Where is the money com- 
ing from ? " I replied, that the Lord had plenty of 
it, and if it was his will I should return, the money 
would be coming in due time. My dear friend, 
William Law, questioned me very closely as to the 
grounds of my faith in God's help in financial mat- 
ters', thought it bordered closely on presumption, 
but did not know but what I was right, after all. 
He made me promise to take tea with him and his 
family the evening before I left. 

On the previous Sunday, as I shook hands and 
said good-bye to numerous friends I was to see no 
more, quite a number left in my hand a piece of 
money ; some, half-a-dollar ; some, a dollar, and 
some, as high as five dollars. Blessed money, too, 
it was — all the gift of love, all enwreathed with 

(80) 



RETURN TO OBERLIN. 8l 

prayer, and all blessed of the Lord ! Shall I ever 
forget, or cease to love the hearts and hands which 
gave them? Where, now, in such an hour, was 
the momentary flurry which jostled our love some 
two years before, when I took my stand on the 
Anti-Slavery question? All gone, and gone for- 
ever ! Even so — the great bones of contention, 
around which great sections of the church have 
striven, have many of them already moldered 
away and will yet become as the fine dust of the 
balance, as the eons of eternity come on. 

According to agreement, I took tea with 
Brother Law and his family. He asked me how 
much I lacked of the amount necessary to return 
to college, and commence the new term, and when 
he knew, went to his drawer and came back, 
bringing the sum, which he put into my hand and 
sent me away with tears in his eyes and blessings 
upon his lips. On that last interview with that good 
man, he thanked me for having converted him to 
the temperance cause, some years before. And 
thus it was : 

HOW MY FRIEND WAS CONVERTED TO TOTAL 
ABSTINENCE. 

In one of my vacations he had employed me 
to work on his farm. One day as I was gathering 
his winter apples, he came out into the orchard, 
and said, " There is some trouble over at the cider 
mill. Mr. Mallory, who is making the cider, is 
drunk, and is making a fool of himself generally. 



82 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

He cannot get the blocking on. Will you go over 
and set things up right and finish the job ?" I did 
not like to displease so good a man and so kind a 
friend, so I started for the mill, keeping up in the 
meantime a vigorous discussion within, whether 
it was right for me, a Christian and a temperance 
man, to employ the strength the Lord had given 
me in making cider. This was not for vinegar ; 
it was to be used for drinking purposes, the most 
of it long after it had fermented and become 
charged with intoxicating properties. Was it not 
pulling down, in one part of the day, a cause I was 
trying to build up in the other? 

I came to the mill. There was Mallory, stag- 
gering about and swearing, monarch of all he sur- 
veyed. A few years before he was the boss wrest- 
ler of the township, but now, cider chiefly, had so 
shorn off his locks, that I easily managed him — 
set him down in a corner and bade him stay there 
and keep quiet. But my whole nature revolted 
against the whole drunkard-making business. Af- 
ter putting on a part of the blocking, I desisted — 
left the mill and went back. In doing so I fully 
expected to lose the favor and help of the best 
friend I had in Cheshire. He was a somewhat pos- 
itive man, and was said to be rather impatient of 
contradiction. His influence was great in the com- 
munity, and who would stand by me should Mr. 
Law turn against me? He had, up to this time, 
contended for the moderate use of wine and cider, 
and both these were usually on his dining table. 



RETURN TO OBERLIN. 83 

The temperance people felt keenly his influence, 
but had not been able to bring him over to their 
views. 

When I had reached the house, I said, " Mr. 
Law, I cannot tell you how much it grieves me 
to disoblige a man who has done so much for me 
as you have, or to lose the favor of one I so highly 
respect, but I suppose I must do so, or forfeit my 
peace of conscience and my sense of duty. Mr. 
Law, I cannot conscientiously put up that cider 
apple cheese. That cider will help to make drunk- 
ards like Mallory. I don't believe it is right for 
me to make it." 

Mr. Law dropped his head and quickly said, 
" Well ! well ! I will go, and you can go to gather- 
ing the winter apples." I believed I had deeply 
offended him. It did look absurd, a young man in 
his teens sitting in judgment on a venerable man 
of sixty, and on his cider making, and for that, his 
drinking too. And I said to-night after tea I shall 
get a lecture, then my wages, and then my dis- 
charge papers. But I kept praying, first for Mr. 
Law and then for myself, that the Lord would 
control his thoughts and also guide my mind in 
judgment and my lips in speech. At tea scarce a 
word was said. I ate a little, asked to be excused 
and rose to go out. " Please step into the parlor," 
said Mr. Law, "I wish to speak with you a moment." 
I went in and waited. He came in and after a 
brief silence he said, " I wish you would tell me 
why you could not work in the cider mill this 



84 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

afternoon." I began by telling him what a curse 
cider had been among a number of my kindred 
and dear neighbors, either making sots of them by 
itself, or creating a hankering after stronger stimu- 
lants which at length slew them, both body and 
soul. Could I help perpetuate and extend this 
curse of curses ? No, not by one day's work with 
hands Christ had redeemed and set to work in the 
opposite direction. My feeling was so deep I could 
proceed no further. Meanwhile Mr. Low had 
been diligently plying his handkerchief to his 
eyes and cheeks. At length he said in broken 
sentences, " My young friend, you are right, I am 
glad you quit the old mill. It never looked so 
nasty as it did to me to-day and I could not put on 
the blocking till I had promised the Lord I would 
never put up another unless for vinegar." He 
could scarcely say enough to express his approval 
of my course. He knew well what it cost me. 
From that time he was doubly my friend. Thence 
onward cider and wine were excluded from his 
table, and many were the occasions when he told, 
to the delight of the temperance people, the story 
of his conversion to the total abstinence principle. 
This was the man who filled out the purse neces- 
sary to carry me back to Oberlin College. 

So having thus received help from God I went 
back to Oberlin, with a heart full of gratitude and 
wonder as I looked over those four months of 
journeying, and of visit to my native town. It 
seemed to me then and it seems to me now, to 
border well nigh on the miraculous. 



RETURN TO OBERLIN. 85 

The students were nearly all away teaching 
school during the long winter vacation. I looked 
up my studies where I left off, and when the spring 
term commenced I was able to resume studies 
with my class. 

Nothing special occurred during my Junior 
year, save that I was wonderfully provided for 
financially. Strange it was, but true, that when I 
came to need money or books, or clothing, some- 
how they came. And I noticed, too, that God 
held them back just long enough to enable me to 
appreciate their value, and thus properly estimate 
the love of the giver. And I used often to won- 
der if the commandment to pray and to pray often, 
did not also arise in part from the yearnings of the 
great oaternal heart for converse with his chil- 
dren. 

A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 

I ought not here to omit the mention of a spe- 
cial providence, supplying a special need of so 
marked a character that I was compelled to say, 
" This is the finger of God." 

I had borrowed five dollars of a Mr. Penfield, 
a student. One day he came to me in haste and 
said, " My people are sick and I must start for home 
this noon, and shall need that five dollars to pay 
my fare." I went at once to get it, but I could 
neither get it where it was due me nor borrow it. 
Just then money had become very scarce in Ober- 
lin. The bell rang for twelve o'clock, the stage 
threw off its mails at the postoffice and was rush- 



86 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

ing to the hotel to change horses, then to rush 
back, take its mail arid go on. I was returning to 
Tappan Hall and saw Mr. Penfield in the south 
door waiting for his money. What should I say 
to him ? That the Lord had failed me this time ? 
What a disappointment to him, and what influence 
would that failure have on my faith and his ? But 
I saw a man running toward the Hall who reached 
it simultaneously with myself. Before I had time 
to speak to Penfield the stranger cried out, " Is 
a man by the name of Bristol here ?" " That is my 
name," I said, "and I am the only one of that name 
in college." " Well," said he, handing me five dol- 
lars, " I suppose this belongs to you." " Who 
gave it you?" " Don't know, just as I left Cleve- 
land a gentleman handed me this and said, ' Give 
it to a man in Oberlin by name of Bristol.' That 
is all I know about it," and he turned and ran back 
to the postofhce. I handed it over to Penfield, 
and went to my room to thank God for the gift, 
and also for this helper of my faith. 

Years after, in passing through Cleveland, I 
met a lawyer by name of Sterling, and he asked, 
" Did you, some two years ago, receive five dol- 
lars from me ?" I said I had no recollection of it, 
but told him of receiving five dollars of a stranger 
as narrated above. " Do tell !" said he, " I sent 
that five dollars and it has troubled me more than 
any five I ever lost or thought I lost. Thus it was : 
I was standing by the Weddle House as the stage 
was starting off one morning, gazing upon the 



RETURN TO OBERLIN. 87 

passengers filling up the coach. As the driver was 
gathering up his lines a passenger thrust his head 
out of the window and asked, ' Does this coach 
pass through Oberlin?' 'Yes,' said the driver. 
At once I drew out my purse, and handing the 
stranger five dollars said, l Give this to a student 
by name of Bristol there, they will all know him,' 
the driver cracked his whip and the stage was off. 
I was confounded at what I had done, and said of 
myself, ' What a fool I was to give that five dollars 
to a total stranger ! He will forget the name, and 
if he don't he will have no time to look up Mr. 
Bristol; the stage only stops to change horses. 
Ten to one he will keep it. Surely I am a fool.' 
A hundred times I said this of my action, and 
wondered at its precipitancy. It seemed as if for 
the instant another will had control of my hand 
and my purse. So you received it after all, and 
just when you needed it, too," and he went away 
in deep meditation. Of course such singular inter- 
positions are rare, but do not some such occur in 
every life, enough to startle us out of our mater- 
ialism, with the conviction, " Thou God seest me"? 
Thus I was provided for during my entire 
course of studies, academic, collegiate and theolog- 
ical, and when I graduated I owed no man any- 
thing but love, save Messrs. Smith & Dove, and 
entering the ministry was to cancel my notes to 
them. While upon the topic I may add here that 
this divine care over, and provision for, my phys- 
ical and financial necessities, has not abated one 



SS THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

whit since I left the seminary, in 1842, till this year 
of grace, A. D., 1887, a period of forty-five years. 

My life has been spent mainly upon the fron- 
tier ; my salaries have been small, not averaging, 
probably, over $500 a year. My family has been 
larger than theaverage. Six boys and three girls 
have been brought up in my house and fed at my 
table. Yet our wants have been reasonably sup. 
plied. Our bread has been given us and our water 
made sure. My note has always been good 
for its face, and my ability to pay unquestioned. It 
is true I have passed through financial straits, like 
others, but the vessel, though half filled with 
water, did not go down, for Christ was on board 
and she outrode the storm. 

In addition to self-support the bounteous Lord 
has given me ability to do a little for others. 
This I was accustomed to do even while in college. 
I kept up there the habit of giving a little to each 
passing call. I did this not only to help along the 
cause, but also to keep my heart warm toward it. 
" For where your treasure is there will your heart 
be also." 

Brethren in the ministry, living hard by me 
and receiving salaries twice as large as mine, did 
not lay up half as much per 3-ear as I did, nor do I 
think they gave more than I did away. And so it 
came to pass, " He that gathered much had nothing 
over, and he that gathered little had no lack." 
And here I am, at the ripe age of seventy-three, 
about as well off financially as I desire to be on 



RETURN TO OBERL1N. 89 

my own account. And it is quite a comfort to an 
old man to be so situated that he is not obliged to 
look to children or friends for pecuniary support 
when the working days of life are over. Better 
still it is to have a little laid aside to keep up one's 
habit of giving till the Master calls him home. 
To me it seems quite desirable that young clergy- 
men should adopt the principle of laying up some- 
thing every year, if possible, against a rainy day ; 
possibly only their marriage fees. . This, in time, 
and other small sums which can be added to them, 
will, in the course of thirty or forty years, amount 
to a quite respectable sum. The fact that many 
ministers whose friends have turned every way to 
help them to an education fail to lay up anything 
after entering the ministry, and when worn out 
are obliged to fall back helpless upon kind friends 
and parishioners, brings the profession into sad 
reproach. It is on this account that many a man 
says, " Let my son be anything rather than a pen- 
niless minister." And many a mother, " Let my 
daughter marry a respectable man of any profes- 
sion rather than a minister." We do not object to 
a minister being poor if that necessity is laid upon 
him. " We have the poor with us always." Pov- 
erty, when legitimate, is no reproach whatever. 
But it is a reproach to a man when it comes upon 
him either because he won't work or will not be 
economical. A lecture on this subject, viz., the 
duty of being economical and laying aside some- 
thing yearly, if possible, to meet the wants of age 



90 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and coming infirmities, would be quite in place if 
delivered to a class of theological students just 
before going out to their fields of labor. Is there 
any class of professional men so improvident as 
ministers? How many there are who receive 
large salaries, yet never lay up a cent, but spend all 
as they go along. 

THREATENED WITH CONSUMPTION. 

In the last part of my Senior year I had a 
severe attack of lung fever. It left me with a 
cough so settled and exhaustive that my physician 
said I had quick consumption. He advised my 
leaving college and hastening home. Reluctantly 
I came to the same conclusion, and prepared to 
return to Connecticut, expecting to die soon after 
I got there, and be buried by the sepulchers of my 
fathers. How affectionately our dear President 
Mahan and the other professors took me to their 
homes to stay with them a few days before I bade 
them a final farewell. The students, too, gathered 
closely around me as I was about to leave. But 
most of all my dear classmates clave to me as with 
one heart, and could not speak the word farewell. 
One of them, dear Hiram Hopkins, went with me 
to Elyria, and as we parted he held my hand in both 
of his and said, " Good-bye, good-bye, brother be- 
loved, it is not likely I shall ever see you in this 
world again. It looks as if the Master was soon to 
call you home. We grieve that we shall not have 
your help in preaching the gospel, and we know 



RETURN TO OBERLIN. 91 

that it is this that gives this parting its special pain 
to you. But, brother, whensoever we rise to 
preach the gospel, we will think that there is one 
less to bear the message, and it shall stimulate us 
to greater earnestness and zeal." 

Five years thereafter I stood upon his grave in 
Plattsburg, N. Y., and read the inscription on his 
tombstone, myself a preacher, and this dear class- 
mate lying in the grave so low. 

President Mahan went with me as far as Cleve- 
land, and his words of cheer and words of love 
were among the most stimulating and hope-inspir- 
ing 1 ever heard. 

At Buffalo I took passage on a canal boat. The 
boat was crowded and when night came all the 
berths were occupied so that none was left for me, 
and I was obliged to sit up all night. There was 
a little more downright piggishness in their treat- 
ment of a sick man than is characteristic of Ameri- 
cans. Howbeit, God meant it for good. 

Not sleeping during the night I escaped those 
night sweats which had followed me since my 
recovery from the lung fever, and which were 
daily reducing my strength and my flesh. The next 
day I was better and stronger. The night follow- 
ing I sat up again. No sweating that night to 
speak of, and so on till I reached my home in Con- 
necticut. Here I soon got rid of my cough and 
other consumptive indications. I have the impres- 
sion that I lost the use of one lobe of the lungs in 
part during this sickness, as my voice was never 



92 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

afterward as strong as before. I resumed my 
studies under the tutorship of our pastor, Rev. 
Erastus Colton, and so kept along with the studies 
of my class, that when they graduated I received 
my diploma with them. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A YEAR IN NEW HAVEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 

In the fall of the year I entered the New Haven 
Theological Seminary. During the year of my 
stay there, a series of articles appeared in the 
''Religious Herald" of Hartford, against Oberlin. 
In announcing their forthcoming, the editor 
assured his readers that now at length, we were 
about to learn something definite and reliable about 
Oberlin, as the writer of the promised articles 
was a clergyman of repute, and a ripe scholar. I 
forbear to give the writer's name, as he is truly a 
good man, and has I am told, long since become a 
strong friend of Oberlin. When the first article 
appeared, it seemed to me so faulty and vulnerable, 
that I ventured a reply. I signed my article — "A 
Member of the Theological Seminary of New 
Haven." It was published with editorial commen- 
dations of its candor and Christian spirit. The 
many corrections I made in the statements of my 
opponent, led the editor to remark, "The writer is 
evidently well versed in the history of Oberlin." 
But no one surmised who the writer was. The 
next article was still more vulnerable and the reply 
so complete, that Rev. H. G. Ludlow, one of 
the New Haven pastors, said to me, "That student 

(93) 



94 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

has completely vindicated Oberlin. Professor 

had better stop writing." So the discussion went 
on, till the editor said in effect, that as no case had 
been made out against Oberlin, or was likely to 
be, he thought the discussion had best be closed. 
The authorship of these letters being traced to 
my door, not a little discussion arose between me 
and the other students over the Oberlin doctrines, 
experiences and practices. As New Haven was 
New School in its theology, and as Oberlin in its 
doctrines was but an inevitable resultant of its 
cardinal principles, my classmates found great 
difficulty in escaping conclusions I was daily forc- 
ing upon them by inexorable logic. We began to 
congregate a little before the lecture hours to 
discuss those questions. Finally we gathered 
half an hour previous, such was the interest felt, 
and warmly we debated the matter. Few took 
sides with Oberlin, but scarcely any two could 
agree upon an argument in opposition to it. At 
length a public discussion of the question was 
loudly called for. Four speakers were selected to 
open the debate, and Dr. Taylor was to close with 
a lecture on the subject. Myself and another 
were to speak for Oberlin — a Mr. Griswold and 
another to present the other side. Mr. Griswold 
was a man I greatly respected. He was in the 
Senior class and soon to graduate and go on a mis- 
sion to Africa. He was a fine scholar, a powerful 
reasoner, an impressive public speaker, and there 
was not a student in the seminary of more promise 



NEW HAVEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 95 

than he, if I except Joseph P. Thompson, or "Tab- 
ernacle Thompson," as he was afterward called. I 
went at once to Griswold's room and said : "This 
debate about the Oberlin ideal, or the possibilities 
of the Christian life will be mainly between you 
and me. Our partners have little heart in the 
matter. I propose that you and I spend some 
evenings privately canvassing the matter. That 
we clear away the rubbish, ascertain the points of 
agreements and differences and reduce them to a 
minimum, and on these spend our strength when 
the debate comes off." He consented. We prayed 
together and a number of evenings of very candid 
and careful discussion followed. In one of them 
I related my experience. It affected him deeply. 
Nearer and nearer we came together. The even- 
ing before the debate was to come off I called. He 
said, "Bristol, I cannot speak to-morrow evening!" 
"But you must," I said: "I cannot do without you." 
"No !" said he, "I dare not go. Should I go and 
utter honestly my real convictions, as they are now, I 
should defend what our professors and the churches 
generally regard as 'Oberlin heresy.' So wide a 
departure from the opinions of men I so deeply 
respect, should not be hastily made. If, on the 
other hand, I array against Oberlin all the argu- 
ments I can think of, the most of which I know to 
be fallacious, I fear the results on myself and others. 
I fear I shall grieve the Holy Spirit by so doing." 
I said no more, for I deeply respected his honesty 
and conscientiousness. The discussion came off 



g6 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and was followed by a lecture read by Dr. Taylor. 
But it had little relevancy to the Oberlin doctrine 
of Christian holiness. It was prepared years 
before, to meet a phase of the subject which had 
little in common with that held at Oberlin or pre- 
sented by me that evening. When the vote was 
taken, four hands were raised for Oberlin and three 
against it. The general feeling was that both the 
lecture and the arguments used against Finney's 
views and those of Oberlin were very unsatisfac- 
tory. Hence all save a few refused to vote. The 
Doctor was chagrined, and said with spirit : "If 
you wish the papers to publish, that at a debate on 
the subject of Oberlin Perfectionism Oberlin was 
sustained, then refuse to vote ; if not, then say so 
by raising your hands." Under this pressure, a 
large majority voted against Oberlin. 

TWO SINGULAR CONVERSIONS. 

In one of the vacations, Bro. Stevens and I went 
up to Cheshire and while there attended some 
neighborhood meetings. In one of them, held in 
the southwest part of the town, owing to the pros- 
pect of rain, there were but four persons present, 
besides myself and Mr. Stevens. Of these two 
were members of the church. The other two were 
sisters, daughters of a well-to-do farmer, but who 
was a pronounced infidel. As there were so few 
present, I proposed that each tell his experience in 
the narrow way. Stevens and I each told how it 
had gone with us since our conversion. No one 



NEW HAVEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 97 

else took any part. We walked home in the dark- 
ness and drizzling rain some four miles, feeling 
that we had labored in vain and spent our strength 
for nought. Not so, for the next day these two 
girls rode five miles under deep conviction of sin, 
to ask our pastor what they must do to be saved. 
Nor was it long before they were active in the 
Master's vineyard. "Blessed are they that sow 
beside all waters !" The remembrance of the 
results of that discouraging meeting went with 
me for many a day. 

RETURNING TO OBERLIN. 

At the close of my Junior year I concluded to 
return to Oberlin and there finish my theological 
studies. I did this because of the superior religious 
privileges enjoyed there, where one breathed the 
atmosphere of nearly a perpetual revival, and also 
because being one with them in theological belief 
and reformatory measures, I felt it my duty to 
share with them the burden of reproach their posi- 
tion brought upon them. So I went back and 
entered the Middle year. 

LICENSED AND PREACHING IN CENTRAL OHIO. 

When the winter vacation commenced, the 
Oberlin Theological Faculty received a letter from 
the Congregational Church Association of Central 
Ohio, asking that two young men, undergradu- 
ates, should be recommended to them for the pur- 
pose of assisting in a series of revival meet- 

7 



98 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

ings, to be held in their bounds under the leader- 
ship of Rev. John T. Avery, a noted and suc- 
cessful evangelist. The Faculty recommended 
myself and a classmate, Mr. Samuel D. Cochran. 

We went down to Mansfield, where the Asso- 
ciation held its annual meeting. We were exam- 
ined and licensed. I was appointed to preach the 
sermon. My text was, "Ye cannot serve God 
and Mammon ;" and the central thought, " It is 
impossible to walk astride the line which divides 
the service of God from that of Satan," or the 
only acceptable state, that in which we intend to 
walk in all the commandments and ordinances of 
the Lord. It awakened some discussion, but the 
majority acquiesced in it. 

We were at once set to work in Mt. Vernon, 
Knox county, visiting from house to house, and 
holding schoolhouse conference meetings. Mr. 
Avery, in the meantime, was preaching daily to a 
large congregation in the Congregational church in 
that city. An extensive revival attended, us usual, 
Mr. Avery's meetings. The work spread abroad, 
and Brother Cochran and I followed it up, into 
surrounding townships. In one of them, that of 
Liberty, it was especially powerful. The whole 
population was moved, and great numbers were 
converted ; but there were many adversaries. 

LIFE THREATENED. 

It was a rude backwoods settlement, and we 
w*re often assailed by other weapons than argu- 



NEW HAVEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 



<*? 



ments. I did most of the visiting — that being my 
forte, while Mr. Cochran did most of the preach- 
ing, he being much the abler, in that line. I vis- 
ited nearly all the time by day, and in the evening 
conducted the prayer-meeting before and after ser- 
mon. God's power was manifest and many hard- 
ened men and women bowed before Him, who in 
the days of His flesh, cast out devils, and healed all 
manner of disease among the people. 

One morning before I had risen, the man at 
whose house I was staying, came to my room and 
said, " A boy at the door has a message for you." 

When I went out, a rough looking boy of some 
thirteen years, accosted me thus : 

" My pa says he will shoot you, if you come to 
his house." 

" Where does your father live ?" I asked. 

" Over there ; " he said, pointing to a log house 
on another street. 

Making sure of the house, I said in my bland- 
est tones, — " Yes, tell your father I will try to be 
there by nine o'clock." 

For a moment the boy seemed dazed with as- 
tonishment ; then swelling with wrath, said, — "He 
will put a ball through you ; he will." 

" Yes, yes;" I said, as pleasantly as if invited to 
a wedding, " tell him I will try to be there by nine 
o'clock." 

This so disgusted the boy that he would have 
nothing more to say to me, and went off mutter- 
ing something I could not hear. 



100 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

My host overheard the boy's message and be- 
sought me not to go, as the man was a desperate 
fellow that did little else than hunt and shed blood. 

Breakfast over, I started across lots through 
the snow for the man's house. When some eighty 
rods distant, I saw the man, rifle in hand, standing 
between his log house and straw barn, and made 
for him with quickened pace. I suspect the agil- 
ity with which I vaulted over a high rail fence, 
rather startled him, for he immediately shied be- 
hind a straw stack. But I was soon there ; looked 
into the barn, went around the stack, seeking my 
man, but he was nowhere to be found. But I ob- 
served some tracks in the snow, leading directly 
back into the woods. I turned back to the log house, 
and there sat a sad faced and forlorn looking wo- 
man, scantily clad and surrounded by half-a-dozen 
children as poorly clad as she was. I shook hands 
with her and addressed her kindly, as if an old ac- 
quaintance. I recognized her as one who had 
come forward an evening before to ask for the 
prayers of God's people. I suspect that was the 
cause of her husband's wrath. I made no allu- 
sion to his message, but begun at once to talk with 
her about the great curse of sin, and of Christ as 
our deliverer ; of his great love for us ; his readi- 
ness to receive, and his patience with those who 
enter his hospital, and seek his help. Soon she 
began to look up — she began to hope. Her fear 
of her husband was gone. Had she not seen him 
flee when no man pursued ? Where were his 



NEW HAVEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IOI 

threatenings to shoot and to kill ? Surely he was 
not omnipotent. 

Well, after talking to her as a brother, and 
leading her to the Saviour, we knelt in prayer and 
she professedly gave her heart to the dear Re- 
deemer. 

But that boy, who brought the message ! There 
he sat in the chimney corner, silent and wrathful. 
His eyes glared at me occasionally, like those of a 
young wolf. While I was praying, he started out 
of the house., and as there was an axe close to the 
door, it occurred to me that he might seize it and 
split my head open while we prayed. So I had 
to keep one eye half open, contrary to my custom, 
and watched while I prayed. But he did not 
come back. Like his father he hid, and I saw him 
no more. 

From this house I went to the next, and there 
I saw my man of the rifle with two other men. 
I at once introduced myself in a pleasant and lively 
way, and soon we were upon the great topic of re- 
ligion. They all took part in the conversation, and 
became greatly interested. They wanted I should 
talk with a neighbor about it, and we all went to 
see him. It was almost as good as an inquiry 
meeting, and before we closed, they all knelt and 
I prayed with them. When I left they all prom- 
ised to attend the meetings and to give the great 
matter their first attention. If my memory serves 
me, two at least of these, soon gave evidence of 
regeneration. 



102 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

On another occasion, in another part of the 
township, I called at a house in the depth of the 
forest. The woman was under deep conviction, 
and felt herself the chief of sinners. Before I left 
her burden rolled off, and she felt that her sins, 
which were many, were forgiven her. I asked for 
her husband. She said he was off still further in 
the forest, clearing a piece of land ; but she begged 
me not to seek him, as he was terribly angry about 
this revival; refused to let her go to meeting, and 
she was afraid he would kill me. Soon after leav- 
ing the house, I heard the crash of a tree falling, 
away in the forest. It occurred to me, the man 
was there ; so I left the path and went in the direc- 
tion of the sound, and soon saw him chopping off 
the butt log of a large tree. I had seen him at a 
meeting and recognized him by his long hair and 
beard. The top limbs had been broken by the 
fall, and I got upon the body and walked down 
the trunk toward him. He stared at me sternly. 
Advancing, I asked pleasantly, " Is this Mr. So- 
and-So ? " "Yes," he answered gruffly, as if he 
would say, " What business is that of yours ? 
Are you come hither to torment me before the 
time?" 

But I shook hands with him, told him who I 
was, that I had just called at his house, and then I 
asked if he had cut down the great tree that morn- 
ing. " He must be a No. i chopper, let me try his 
axe." Reluctantly he handed it to me and I plied 
it vigorously, cutting down the half he had begun. 



NEW HAVEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 103 

This put me on a sympathetic plane with him. 
I could swing an axe ; I knew the heart of a chop- 
per. Of course I did not feel above him, I praised 
his work and his judgment in the selection of an 
axe. By this time we were on good terms, his con- 
fidence was won, and then we sat down on the 
log and I talked to him of the Great Redeemer, 
of the Christian's life, his deathbed, his heaven 
above, his endless life over yonder. 

The stalwart and bronzed faced chopper bowed 
his head and wept. " Alas," he said, " I am too 
great a sinner, there is no hope for me." But I 
told him of One who came to save the chief of sin- 
ners, and who could save unto the uttermost all 
who would come unto God by Him. And when I 
left him he promised to attend the meeting, that 
he would try, at least, to find the Saviour, and that 
he would not hinder his wife in her endeavor to 
lead a Christian life. With a warm shake of the 
hand and tears in his eyes I parted with him in the 
forest. 

As I went on my way how vividly came before 
me the story in the Gospels, of the Master's meet- 
ing with the maniac of Gadara. " Coming out of 
the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might 
pass by that way, and who cried out, ' What have 
I to do with this Jesus, thou Son of God most 
high; art thou come to torment me before the 
time ?' " Yet before Jesus left him he was changed 
into another man, and besought Jesus that he 
might be with him. 



104 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Not to elongate the narration ot incidents in 
these revival labors, I will but add that the num- 
ber of converts in these schoolhouse meetings was 
so large that, in addition to those who joined other 
churches, there was formed a Congregational 
Church of respectable size, and a house of wor- 
ship was erected by them the following year. 

The winter vacation being now over my class- 
mate and 1 returned to Oberlin, greatly enriched 
in joyful experiences, but poorer in purse and in 
wardrobe than when we left for Mansfield. The 
people where we labored were poor, largely 
recent emigrants, and all they had was locked up 
in land, and money was very scarce. We did not 
blame them at all. We had received at the Lord's 
hand, a reward far above silver or gold. 

The financial prospects for the opening long 
term of nine months were dark. But, as I went 
forward ways of earning money opened before me, 
and when the nine months had gone by, in looking 
back, I was reminded of our Lord's question to 
his disciples, and their reply, viz.: " When I sent 
you without purse or scrip, lacked you anything ? 
and they answered, Nothing" 



CHAPTER IX. 

FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. 

At the end of the Middle year I was invited to 
spend the winter in Franklin, preaching to the 
Congregational Church there. The church was 
quite demoralized by causes I need not mention, 
and was in a sadly backslidden condition. Arriv- 
ing there early in the week I quickly took in the 
situation. The first sermon was from the text, 
" Come, and let us return to the Lord, for he hath 
torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and he 
will bind us up. After two days will he revive 
us, and the third day we shall live in his sight." 
The appropriateness of this text to their condition, 
and the tender and earnest application that fol- 
lowed, won me a place at once in their confidence 
and respect. 

There was not a word of scolding, not an 
attempt to show off a little smartness by some 
keen sarcastic expressions. They were addressed 
by one who spoke as if he realized he himself was 
encompassed by infirmities. 

I at once commenced a course of visitation 
from house to house, usually closing up a visit 
through a school district with an evening lecture 
in the schoolhouse. One of these lectures was in 

(105) 



106 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

a school district where Campbellites, or Disciples, 
predominated. Those who know them well, as 
they were in those days, will not be surprised that 
the text I selected as specially appropriate, was this: 
" They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my 
people slightly, saying Peace, peace, when there is 
no peace." 

There was a large turnout, and the house was 
filled. The discourse ran somewhat thus : ist. 
The hurt of God creation is sin, the refusal to 
obey God. 2d. The quack prescriptions palmed 
off upon sinners by devils and their human agents 
to cure the dread disease. 3d. Repentance, faith 
in Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, the 
only and the sovereign remedy. 

Of course I did not speak very commendatorily 
of the doctrine that merely intellectual belief in 
the historic Christ, outward morality and water 
baptism was a settlement of the matter between 
the soul and God. But I denounced it as healing 
the hurt slightly, leaving the dread cancer as lively 
as ever, doing its work of death. 

When about to dismiss the congregation, a tall 
man arose and asked if I was not going to allow 
some one to reply to my remarks. I said this was 
not a meeting called for a debate, but for a lecture 
on a religious topic. He answered, that most peo- 
ple nowadays believed in free discusion. It was 
plain that the young man who has spoken to us 
to-night does not believe in it. Well ! he did not 
blame "the young man" for being averse to a dis- 



FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. 10? 

cussion, after such a discourse as he had given us 
this evening. Could he have fifteen minutes, he 
would overthrow every one of his positions and not 
leave a grease spot of them. Up to this time I had 
kept my eyes on the floor and I presume they 
thought "the young man" was frightened. I now 
looked up and advancing a little said : "I am not ac- 
quainted with this Goliath of Gath or some other 
place, who boasts that he can do such great things, 
but I know that as a rule, such boasters as he 
and provokers of strife and debate, are the last men 
in the world to make good their pretensions. I 
propose to test this man and see if he does not 
come under that rule. I definitely accept your 
challenge and ask the people to stay by and listen 
candidly till this debate is over, and see whether 
he is able to overthrow all the positions taken in 
the discourse this evening. And now sir, I will 
sit down and give you the fifteen minutes you ask 
for and five minutes more. And don't wander off 
upon other topics, but stick to your points and 
show this people that sin is not the great hurt of 
God's people. That the quack medicines I de- 
nounced are good and will cure the evil, and lastly, 
that repentance and faith in Christ and regenera- 
tion by the Holy Ghost are not the only remedy." 
I sat down, watch in hand, and gave the time. 
Campbellites have improved immensely since then 
but in those days they were intensely fond of dis- 
cussion and some of them responded "Good, good T 
The tall man rose, bowed low, squared off into 



108 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

speaking attitude and began a wordy preamble 
which lasted perhaps five minutes. When I called 
him to order and said, " Unless you can confine your 
remarks to the points under discussion, I propose 
that we adjourn," he asked me to re-state the 
points of my discourse. I did so in terse language 
and promptly. He then took up the first : "Sin 
the hurt of God's people." Several times he 
repeated it in tones designed to make it ridiculous. 
Said there are many other evils, poverty, sickness, 
etc., etc., magnified these, and treated sin as less 
than they. His time up I replied that "sin ante- 
dated human existence and human woe. It had a 
horrid history before Adam's fall. Before man 
there was a devil and his angels ! whence come 
they ? They fell from lofty places ! They were once 
holy angels, but by sin they fell! were cast out of 
heaven and hell was made for the devil and his 
angels. If sin is a trifle, look up to the heaven they 
lost by it and down into the hell it prepared for 
them. What did sin to our first parents ? Drove 
them from Eden, thenceforth in shame and sorrow 
to tread a thorny road till death came to their 
relief ! Pass on and behold it corrupting the whole 
race till it repented God that he had made man, 
because every imagination of the thoughts of man's 
heart was evil and only evil, continually. Go take 
your stand on Ararat and look over the waste of 
waters whose black waves roll over the whole hab- 
itable world, drowning all its millions, with the 
exception of one family ! What was it for ? What 



FRANKLIN, TORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. IOQ 

was \tforf Was it brought on by a trifle? What 
does this awful scene indicate is God's opinion 
about sin? Is it to be sneered at? To be made 
the subject of a joke like those you tried to pass 
off upon us ? Nobody laughed at your stale words ! 
They were ashamed of you — you, a preacher of 
the Gospel, speaking of sin as a small evil. What 
do you mean by it ?" Some one cried out "Time" 
and I sat down. I was getting well aroused. I 
suspect the congregation would have left, a part 
at least, had not the rain begun to fall in torrents. 
Most of the speech the tall man made in reply was 
of the nature of an apology for an apparent attempt 
to make men laugh at certain forms of sin. Of 
course he made no headway in refuting any of the 
positions I had taken in the discourse. His time 
up, I resumed my portrayal of the dark history of 
sin. We looked with Abraham over burning 
Sodom, Adma, Zeboim and Gomorrah. Then at 
the plagues of Egypt and the catastrophe of the 
Red Sea ! Then at the destruction of the seven 
nations of Canaan, and so on till we came to Cal- 
vary's Cross and looked up into the marred visage 
of the Great Sufferer there ! And as we stood 
there we asked what was it brought him here ? 
Was it a trifle? What means that rending veil? 
What the sun's veiled face? What the rending 
rocks and earthquake ? What the most plaintive 
cry earth ever heard — "Eloi! Eloi ! Lama! Sabacr 
thani!"— "My God ! My God! why hast thou for- 
saken me ?" What does all this express as to God's 



IIO THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

view of sin? Again I resumed my seat. My 
opponent said he thought the debate had better 
close. I asked him if he had nothing more to say 
to make good his assertion that he could overthrow 
every one of my positions. Which one of them 
had he invalidated in the least? He said he had 
nothing more to say. So I resumed the topic I 
was last upon, and spoke some fifteen minutes. 
The rain ceased and the meeting closed, where- 
upon there was an outburst of indignant voices 
pouring a torrent of hot words on the head of my 
tall antagonist. I got out of the din as soon as 
possible and left for home. But as I passed out I 
heard one say to him, "I am ashamed of you ! You 
disgraced us all ! But you got a good thrashing 
and I am glad of it." Another said, "The next 
time you provoke a fight with a stranger, you first 
find out who he is." When a rod or so from the 
house, I heard a female voice over all the rest, 
crying out in a high key, " You called him the young 
man. Who is the young man now?" But I was 
soon out of hearing, hastening homeward through 
the mud. The good Deacon Burt, with whom I 
boarded, laughed all the way home. 

That debate helped me not a little. The story 
of the debate spread all over town and I noticed 
that the principal men of the town treated me as 
if I had suddenly grown several years older. 
Everybody seemed to know me after that, and new 
faces began to appear in church. The large Dis- 
ciple Church in Franklin sent me an invitation to 



FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. Ill 

preach them a sermon. But I declined, deeming 
it mainly complimentary and designed to show 
me their hearty disapproval of the coarse attack 
of their conceited and pugnacious elder. 

ANTI-SLAVERY CONTROVERSY. 

Not very long after this debate with one out- 
side our church there arose a discussion in our own 
house over the question of slavery. And this is 
what precipitated it. We had in our church a 
man who was wont to make himself very promi- 
nent in all its public affairs. This was true, also, in 
town matters. Col. Holden must always have his 
say and usually his way as well. 

It happened in one of my discourses on the 
ever increasing difficulties in the way of escape 
from a sinful life that I illustrated it by an incident 
taken from slave life in the South. It was that of 
a slave in Kentucky. He longed for liberty and 
often looked across the Ohio River and said, " One 
day I will be there." One day he broke away 
from his master, got across the river, but was 
re-captured and taken back. His master soon 
sold him farther South to a planter down in Ten- 
nessee. He again tried to escape but the blood- 
hounds tracked him to his hiding place ; manacled 
he was driven back and sent into North Alabama. 
Next he was sold to a Louisiana planter, taken to 
a rice field in sight of the Gulf of Mexico, and there 
all hope of freedom went out in his soul. So it is 
with sinful man ; he is going south every day and 



112 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

the sunshine of hope is becoming more and more 
dim, every day of his life. I have no doubt there 
was that in my manner and tones while giving the 
illustration which showed that I had no special 
love for the peculiar institution or of respect for 
its apologists and advocates. As the congrega- 
tion rose to receive the benediction, Col. Holden 
asked the congregation to be seated as he had 
something to say. I remember his words: "We 
like our young minister very well," he began. " He 
preaches us good sermons, and I am glad to see 
the church is filling up. But I am sorry he has 
introduced politics into his sermon to-day. I 
hope the audience will continue to come and I will 
assure them they will not be troubled with it any 
more." 

When he sat down I said the audience would 
bear me witness, that. I had only used slavery, civil 
slavery, " as an illustration of moral slavery. That 
the Bible did the same when it spoke of the slavery 
of sin. That I had no idea that the people of 
Franklin were so much in love with Southern 
slavery that they would not allow a preacher to 
touch it, even with a ten foot pole. Had I dreamed 
I was in the midst of such a pro-slavery people as 
Col. Holden represents you to be, I would have 
preached upon it long ago. But I 'don't believe 
he represents you rightly. But, perhaps, there 
are some, a few, who are of his way of thinking. 
I now give notice that on the next Sabbath you 
may expect two sermons outright upon the sub- 



FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. 113 

ject of American slavery, its enormous wicked- 
ness, and our duties in relation to it. You will be 
dismissed." 

Great was the excitement as the congregation 
moved out of church. The majority seemed to re- 
gard Col. Holden as having needlessly provoked 
a discussion : "Why could he not hold still?" — 
" There was nothing offensive in the illustration. " 
" Sorry he is going to preach on the subject. " 
" Well, I am going to hear him any way," etc., etc. 

1 did little visiting that week, but gave myself 
wholly to preparing two sermons, exposing the na- 
ture and wickedness of slavery, the woes it inflicts 
on both master and slave, and the extent of our 
responsibility for it here in the North. I knew the 
brick church would be crowded, and very likely 
this would be my last opportunity to address them 
on the subject, for I fully expected to receive my 
walking papers at once after preaching two out- 
and-out Abolition sermons. So I asked the Lord 
to enable me to crowd as much truth as possible 
into those two discourses. By Saturday night I 
was like a bottle ready to burst with fermenting 
wine. I longed for the Sabbath to come. I slept 
little Saturday night and had no appetite for food 
Sabbath morning, but I felt within strong as a lion, 
and I longed for the coming battle. 

When I entered the church, I could scarcely 
hold in, but I put on a curbed bit and spoke as 
slow and deliberate and unexcited as I could, 
especially at the first, till my audience gradually 



114 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

became heated up with me, and then I poured out 
my arguments without stint. And I did not stand 
on the defensive ; I became the attacking party, 
and assailed the horrid monster as I would drive 
a pack of wolves from my fold of lambs. When 
I came to speak of the attempt of corrupt politi- 
cians to come into God's sanctuary, and there 
dictate to God's anointed embassadors what they 
should say, and what not, in regard to the sale 
and enslavement of His redeemed children, I think 
Col. Holden thought he was in the prisoner's 
box, indeed. When I sat down, of one thing I 
felt sure, no one had any doubt where I stood on 
the great question. The afternoon discourse was 
more mild. On some account I felt that the 
enemy's center was broken, and now I had little else 
to do, save gather in the broken fragments. A 
notice was handed me and I read a call for an im- 
portant meeting of the church on Tuesday of that 
week. I went home with a song in my heart and 
often unbidden rising to my lips. 

I had done my duty. I had stood up for Jesus 
and his poor ; I had not shunned to declare the 
whole counsel of God. I had done it in full view 
of probable loss of reputation, and of place 
and salary, too. What mattered it, so long as 
Christ was mine? And I rejoiced that I was 
counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. I 
ate a hearty supper, sung half the evening and lay 
down to a night of peaceful rest. 

The next day and the following I packed my 



FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. II 5 

trunk, ready to depart on the morrow. Tuesday 
evening Deacon Burt came home with a smile on 
his face and said, — " The church has resolved, 
unanimously, save Col. Holden and family, to stand 
by you. So, unpack your trunk and feel that you 
dwell among your own people." 

This was a surprise to me ; so I unpacked my 
trunk and entered with fresh vigor upon my work. 
Quite a number of conversions occurred during the 
winter ; the church was edified and became united 
and harmonious. When the spring came, I was 
obliged to return to Oberlinand resume my studies. 
But though the ride was long, over forty miles, I 
went down often during the summer and spent a 
Sabbath with them. It was understood I was to 
be their minister after I had graduated from the 
Seminary. Accordingly, after my graduation and 
marriage, I took up my residence with them. 
With much warmth of affection that little church 
gathered around me. My salary was small, about 
$400, I think. I should, properly, have received 
from the Home Missionary Society $200 more, 
but its agents were afraid of Oberlin, and even the 
Congregational Association, to which our church 
belonged, refused to accept me as one of its mem- 
bers, solely because I came from Oberlin. I was 
understood to sympathize with its doctrines. 
Well, it was somewhat hard upon me and a hun- 
dred others then, but God enabled us to wait pa- 
tiently and live it down, and to-day it is no re- 
proach to a man in all those regions, that he is a 



Il6 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

friend of Oberlin, or has studied in its halls. De- 
spite my small salary, I began early to lay aside a 
little from time to time, especially my marriage 
fees, and many a discussion my wife and I had over 
a five dollar bill, whether we should use it for 
some present comfort, or send it to our banker to 
keep for some rainy day. 

THE COW-HIDING WHICH DID NOT COME OFF. 

Near the close of my second year of preaching 
in Franklin, a serio-comic affair came off to which 
I am loth to allude. At a Sabbath school celebra- 
tion, a lad had fallen into the factory pond made 
by a dam across the Cuyahoga River, and before 
he could be rescued, was drowned. I arrived on 
the scene too late to save him, but the efforts I 
made to rescue his body, led his grateful parents, 
who were Episcopalians, to demand of the rector 
that I should preach the funeral sermon. As I 
entered the vestibule, I met a number of the prin- 
cipal men of the town and shook hands with them, 
but one, Dr. Crittenden, or " Dr. Crit," as he was 
called, drew back his hand, and refused, scornfully, 
to recognize me. He had previously been excom- 
municated from our church and had laid it up 
against me. I was not specially annoyed, but 
smiled and passed on to shake hands with others, 
in a way which said, " It is of no consequence 
whatever; there are enough more who will take 
this hand." 

The funeral over, it occurred to me to call 



FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. 11? 

upon the doctor and explain to him that I had 
nothing against him personally. That in the mat- 
ter of his excommunication I had only done as 
fidelity to our common oath required, etc., etc. 
So I called and found the doctor in council with 
several of the prominent men of the town who had 
witnessed the rude treatment of me in the church. 
As nearly as I could afterward learn, he had called 
them together to tell them his grievances, and 
fixed purpose to flog me to vindicate his insulted 
honor. Just at this point, who should appear upon 
the scene but the man himself ! Now the redoubt- 
able doctor was short of stature, but made up for 
it with high-heeled boots and a tall stove-pipe hat. 
On several occasions he had sought to supplement 
his muscular strength by flourishing a pistol. Nor 
was he slow, at times, to hurl at his foes big words 
portentous and terrible. Not a few people were 
really afraid of him. Well ! I knocked just at the 
moment when his wrath had reached its perihelion. 
As he opened the door a sensible pallor came over 
his face, but recovering his self-possession, he 
haughtily waved me in, but conducted me into the 
opposite parlor, then back into another room and 
finally into his harness and saddle room, where 
hung an array of whips, rawhide, and of other 
material, etc., etc. What all this meant I could 
not divine ! I fancied he wished to get me out of 
hearing of the men in the parlor so that he might 
not be overheard as he apologized for his conduct 
in the church. Judge of my surprise, when he 



Il8 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

took down a rawhide, stood back upon his heels 
and stretching himself above his natural height, 
said in gruff tones: "Mr. Bristol, I have resolved 
to cowhide you !" So suddenly this came upon 
me, and so ludicrous it was, that I burst into a roar 
of laughter which perfectly disconcerted him ! So 
loud it was that they heard it in the other room. 
Laying my right hand on the nape of his neck, I 
shook all the strength out of him in a moment and 
his courage, too ! He did not even attempt to 
strike me. "Is this," said I, "the purpose for which 
you have led me back here ?" You cowhide me ! 
Why you little whiffet, I can throw you out of that 
window, and I will do it if you attempt to strike 
me ! 1 could break every bone in your little bod}^ 
in five minutes !" Now this last, though I said it, 
was only part true ; of course I was a little excited 
and indulged in some hyperbole. Well, the poor 
fellow was scared nearly out of his wits, not able 
even to speak, so I left him standing there and 
went back laughing at the unspeakable ridiculous- 
ness of the situation ! This was too good a morsel 
for village gossip and sport to keep, and his coun- 
selors scattered in every direction and told the 
story of the doctor's attempt to cowhide the min- 
ister ! Now I relate this not at all to defend it or 
commend it, but to relate one of those ludicrous 
experiences which sometimes occur in even min- 
isters' lives, and which we cannot help but remem- 
ber, and remembering, narrate and laugh over 
them. A good hearty laugh hurts no man, and in 
order to laugh there must be a cause. 



FRANKLIN, PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO. II9 

The winter following was one of revival in my 
field and I followed it up from one neighborhood 
to another till I brought up in Hudson, where 
"Western Reserve College" was situated. Our 
meeting was held in the Methodist chapel and the 
Methodist minister and I alternated in preaching. 
A large number were hopefully converted and 
among them quite a number of students who came 
to make sport, but went back to pray. So impor- 
tant did this field at Hudson appear, that the Con- 
gregationalists, who favored the Oberlin view, 
began to build a church edifice and extended to 
me an invitation to become their pastor. Much as 
I loved the people and church in Franklin, I was 
inclined to accept the call. Before the change was 
fully consummated I received another important 
call. 



CHAPTER X. 

AGENCY FOR OBERLIN COLLEGE. 

The trustees and faculty of Oberlin College 
voted me a call to a soliciting agency for the col- 
lege. Its finances were in a sad condition. For 
near two years the salaries of the professors had 
been unpaid. They had been obliged to run up 
heavy bills for food and clothing at the stores, 
hoping that money would come, but it did not. 
Nearly all its old stand-by friends in the East, such 
as Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Chapin of Providence 
and Sears of Boston, had been overthrown or 
greatly crippled by the great financial cyclone 
which had swept over the nation. What should 
they do? To run up store bills on trust much 
longer, was neither right for the professors or safe 
for the merchants. Yet the institution was crowded 
with students and the spirit of the Lord was work- 
ing wonders there ! But the prospect of raising 
money was truly dismal. There were two reasons 
for this : First, the financial distress and almost 
general bankruptcy of the country. Second, the 
immense prejudice against Oberlin. To go out 
as its advocate and agent asking money, had just 
then a most forbidding aspect. I declined the call 
because I had little confidence in my ability to per- 

(120) 



AGENCY FOR OBERLIN COLLEGE. 121 

suade men to give money, and also because I was 
enthusiastic in my attachment to the work of preach- 
ing the Gospel. Some letters passed between us, 
I still declining. At last there came a letter signed 
by President Mahan, Professor Finney and all the 
other professors, saying, "If you still refuse to act 
as our agent, and no one else competent undertakes 

it, within days, we shall each and all resign our 

places and give up the enterprise in despair." This 
was too much for me, and I wrote back at once : 
"Dear Brethren and Fathers ! stay where you are 
and abide at your posts. Help will come I know. 
I will go and do what I can. Oberlin is worth a 
thousand lives like mine." So I left the dear flocks 
of my love, moved my family to Oberlin and went 
out as their agent. The salary I was to receive 
was $400 a year and that was about a fair spec- 
imen of what the professors were getting at that 
time. Working my way East, I gathered money 
slowly, for nearly all our friends were poor. By 
degrees I gathered experience and facility in my 
work. I adopted the principle of never urging a 
man to give. I only asked the privilege of laying 
before him the story of Oberlin, what it is doing, 
and its necessities. This done I simply added, 
"If you believe the Lord would have you give 
something to sustain such a cause, I am here to 
receive and transmit it." I never tried to pry into 
men's business or judge what was their duty. 
This put me on pleasant terms with people, and if 
they did not give they thanked me for my call. I 



122 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

was careful also not to intrude upon hours assigned 
to business, especially in the case of men of large 
affairs. Receiving an introduction to such, I usu- 
ally asked if he could afford me half an hour within 
the week or so, in which I could lay before him 
an important matter. The time designated, I took 
my leave. And when it came I usually had his 
undivided attention, and I got the matter fully 
before him. Usually I was invited to take tea with 
the party after business hours and then when full 
and in pleasant mood, I seldom failed to get a liberal 
donation. 

MONEY FROM A MISER. 

While in New York, some of my friends re- 
solved to have some sport at my expense. So one 
of them, H. C. Bowen, him of the Independent, 
wrote a letter introducing me to a rich miser who 
lived in South Brooklyn. Entirely unsuspicious 
of their design I took the letter of introduction to 
the miser's office. He received me coldly, read 
the letter, asked what the business was. Pleas- 
antly I declined telling him, and only asked could 
he designate a quarter of an hour of leisure during 
the week, when I could lay it before him ? He 
handed me his card and said, "Take tea with me at 
my villa, such an evening, in South Brooklyn." 
I bowed myself out of his office. I was there 
promptly at the appointed time. A servant took 
my card, and I was invited in. I found him walk- 
ing through his grounds viewing his flowers and 
shrubs. I praised his rare taste in laying off his 



AGENCY FOR OBERLIX COLLEGE. 1 23 

grounds, admired his shrubs and flowers, and did 
not allude to the object of my coming till we were 
called to tea. The conversation was pleasant. I 
spoke of a namesake of his in Ohio noted for his 
benevolence; was he a relative of his? Tea over 
he took his cigar and began to smoke — offered me 
one — " Excuse me, I never smoke." Now for my 
errand. In about twenty minutes I told the story 
of Oberlin, its 500 students going out every winter 
to teach school, etc., etc., the immense good that 
school was doing, the small salaries of the profes- 
sors, etc., etc. He was interested, and remarked 
when I closed, "That is a good thing, we ought to 
support it." Took a pen and gave me a check for 
$300! Some days afterward I met Mr. Bowen 
on Wall street and he asked, "Did you call on 

Mr. ■ in South Brooklyn?" Yes! He smiled 

and asked, "Did you get anything?" I showed 
him the check. He took it and calling aloud to 
one broker and another showed it and they laughed 
and shouted over it, for they said they never heard 
of his giving anything before. There is policy in 
war and in peace too. I did not collect a great 
deal of money, but what I did gather was promptly 
sent right where it was needed. The institution 
still held on its way and after two years I resigned, 
and other agents much more efficient, I think than 
myself, took my place, and I returned to my favor- 
ite pursuit. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE FITCHBURG PASTORATE. 

In the course of my agency I had become ac- 
quainted with the Trinitarian Congregational 
Church at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and when my 
work for Oberlin was done, I accepted a call fiom 
it. Here I labored two years. The church was 
anti-slavery, and that was everywhere spoken 
against. Its members had come out of the old 
church on account of its subserviency to the pro- 
slavery sentiment of the county. Of course the 
new church was unpopular. So too. was its min- 
ister, for tha same reason, and because he came 
from Oberlin. I did not accomplish much while 
there ; it was a time of trial both to me and to the 
church. There are periods when the tide sets 
strongly against us, and we can do but little save 
to hold our own and keep from drifting back, and 
losing ground. Such a time was that I spent at 
Fitchburg. A few were added to the church, but 
no revival movement blessed my brief pastorate 
of two years. Before I had left Fitchburg, I had 
received a call for a year's service in the Sullivan 
Street church in New York City. I went directly 
there and found an active and energetic church 
with which I worked most pleasantly during the 

(124) 



THE FITCHBURG PASTORATE. 12 5 

year. We enjoyed during that year a constant 
revival, more or less persons professing conver- 
sion nearly every week, and some uniting with us 
on confession of faith at each monthly com- 
munion. 

FORMATION OF THE FREE SOIL PARTY. 

It was during my stay in New York that there 
occurred the celebrated " Buffalo Conveiition." 
This was a gathering of diverse elements, consist- 
ing of Whigs and Democrats who were dissatis- 
fied with the subserviency of their respective par- 
ties to pro-slavery domination, and the Liberty 
Party, at the head of which stood James G. Bir- 
ney. All these elements gathered in one great 
and enthusiastic convention at Buffalo, and there 
formed the Free Soil Party. It nominated Martin 
Van Buren for the Presidency and Charles Fran- 
cis Adams for the Vice-Presidency. I was a del- 
egate from New York City to that convention. 
It was a wonderful meeting, and I believe the 
Spirit of God was there inspiring the speakers, 
many of whom were old-line wire-pulling politi- 
cians — Cretes and Arabians — we heard them all 
speaking the Abolition language and uttering sen- 
timents ol liberty which astonished us all and none 
more than the speakers themselves. Often, after a 
speech fervent in its advocacy of liberty to all, 
coming red-hot from a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, 
we old Abolitionists cried out, amazed, " Is Saul 
also among the prophets ? " 



126 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

After much speaking and long conference, a 
platform was drawn up, acceptable to all parties, 
Whigs, Democrats and Liberty Party men, and 
they all were merged into one party whose central 
principle was, liberty to all, white and black, and 
uncompromising hostility to pro-slavery propa- 
gandism in America. The name given by one of 
the speakers, and accepted by the convention, was 
the " Free Soil Party" the meaning of which was, 
that the soil of our country, not yet having passed 
under State control, should be sacred to freedom ; 
no feet of slave ever to be suffered to tread upon 
it. When the organization was complete, congrat- 
ulatory speeches became the order of the day. 
In one of them, a Democratic lawyer by the name of 
White, used this language in regard to the party. 
He had been speaking of the shameful truck- 
ling to slavery by both the old parties, Whig and 
Democratic, and showing where the Whig party, 
under pressure from the South, had sacrificed the 
great doctrines on which it was founded, and which 
alone gave it a right to live; and also, where the 
Democrats had done the same, and even worse, 
and where it received its fatal stabs, and thencefor- 
ward staggered, moribund, to its grave ; then the 
orator, turning toward the seats occupied by mem- 
bers of the " Old Liberty Party," asked, " What 
shall I say of the Liberty Party, the party of Bir- 
ney and Tappan and Leavitt — a party, small in 
numbers, bitterly persecuted, misrepresented and 
ostracised, yet ever true as the needle to the pole, 



THE FITCHBURG PASTORATE, 1 27 

to the great principles of righteousness, justice 
and truth ; what shall I sav of it? What can I 
say, but what the Great Book says of Enoch, who 
lived before the flood, 'Having walked with God 
300 years, was not suffered to see death, but was 
translated '/' " As he said this the vast audience 
rose to their feet and shouted as I never heard 
men before. 

ISAIAH RYNDERS. 

Returning from this convention, and going 
down the Hudson River on a steamboat, I had an 
encounter with that prince of roughs and shoulder 
strikers who so long held New York in terror — 
Isaiah Rynders. Rynders was then and had long 
been in the employ of the Tammany Hall Demo- 
crats. He had gathered a club of a hundred pugil- 
ists and assassins from the purlieus of the great city, 
and these he had trained for such scenes of vio- 
lence as from time to time should further the dom- 
ination of his party over the city. Rynders paid 
his men liberally from funds received from the 
Tammany officials, who in turn indemnified them- 
selves by the stealings for which that party became 
so notorious during the reign of Boss Tweed, his 
predecessors and successors, for many years. For 
a long time prior to the trip I am speaking of, 
" Ike " had held a rod in terrorem over the heads 
of New York Whigs, and indeed, over all decent 
and peace-loving citizens. 

Especially was this true on election days, and 



128 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

at the primaries which precede them. It was then 
that this Democratic devil was as busy and active 
as a weasel in a brood of chickens, darting from 
precinct to precinct, consulting with the leaders, 
giving peremptory orders to his lieutenants and 
voters. Short and sharp were his orders, and woe 
to the Irishman or Dutchman who hesitated about 
obeying the imperial mandate. He knew the poli- 
tics of every ward in the city, and how many Dem- 
ocratic votes must be had to carry it. And he 
knew how to get them, too. In one, terror would 
keep from the polls a sufficient number of timid 
Whigs. In another, stuffing the ballot-boxes was 
feasible. A third could be best carried by prac- 
ticing the rule prescribed by one of their author- 
ities, viz., " Vote early, vote late, and very often! " 
But of all these none suited the genius of " Ike " 
so well as the reign of terror! There he was at 
home. He loved to see men tremble when he and 
his club came nigh. I will give a sample which I 
once heard from his own lips. At a city election 
a great crowd of near a thousand men were wait- 
ing for a chance to vote. It was in a Whig ward. 
But Isaiah came and distributed his assassins 
among them, and he shall tell the rest : " Mounting 
a box," said he, " which overlooked the crowd, I 
shouted, '/ am Isaiah Rynders ! My club is here, 
scattered among you ! We know you ! Five hun- 
dred of you are from Philadelphia — brought here 
to vote the Whig ticket ! Damn you ! if you don't 
leave these polls in five minutes, we will dirk every 



THE FITCHBURG PASTORATE. 129 

mother s son of you/' " etc., etc., and he added, with a 
grin of pleasure, " In five minutes five hundred 
men left the polls." Of course, these were peace- 
able citizens, and went home without voting, for 
fear of assassination. 

About a year prior to the encounter I am about 
to relate, an anti-Slavery convention was being held 
in the Broadway Tabernacle, New York. Scarcely 
had the meeting been organized, when in pushed 
this rascal, followed by his henchmen. He 
mounted the platform, and swore no white man 
should speak in that meeting ! Garrison attempted 
it, but was summarily put down and silenced. A 
New York City minister rose to speak, but Ryn- 
ders marched to his seat, and rubbing his fist under 
his nose, said, " Not one word from you ! Sit 
down ! " and he did so. A negro tried to speak, 
and he allowed him, saying this was " a nigger 
meeting ! " No one else was tolerated. The po- 
lice were either in league with him, or feared to 
interfere. The Abolitionists well knew it was in 
vain to appeal to them for help. Complaints had 
been lodged against him many times before, but 
the leading Democrats of the city would go his 
bail, and the courts would so shuffle his case that 
either no trial would come off, or no fine be in- 
flicted, or other punishment. So this contemptible 
tyrant was allowed to break up an anti-slavery con- 
vention in New York, and scatter its members. 

The writer was not himself present at that Tab- 
ernacle Convention ; but when he heard of it there 



I30 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

was enkindled within a curiosity to see this New 
York autocrat, and perhaps feel of his muscles and 
learn " what meat this Caesar lived upon, that he 
had grown so great ! " The opportunity occurred 
on this trip down the Hudson. There were on 
board the steamer, Mr. Lewis Tappan, the New 
York merchant and anti-slavery man, and also a 
noted New York jurist and politician, Hon. Joshua 
Spencer of Utica. The two men fell into a dis- 
cussion on the slavery question. Mr. Spencer ad- 
mitted the duty of Congress to abolish the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia. Mr. Tappan 
wrote out a petition to Congress to do this, and 
asked Mr. Spencer to sign it. Before he had time 
to do so, Rynders drew up his Empire Club, and 
swore he would throw any one overboard who 
should sign that petition! For five minutes he 
swore great oaths and cursed the Abolitionists. 
Neither the captain of the boat or the passengers 
dared to question his right to rule the ship. Mean- 
time I was measuring him with my eye from head 
to foot, and my conclusion was that he had ruled 
the country about long enough — that I would be 
willing to be put into the North 'River, provided 1 
could take him along with me! I had no doubt of 
my ability, once in the water with him, to extricate 
myself from him and swim to either shore. So 
edging my way up to the table, I took the pen and 
signed my name. In a moment the Plug Uglies 
were upon me. Leaving my cloak in their hands, 
I sprang like a cat upon their leader, exclaiming 



THE NEW YORK PASTORATE. 131 

as I did so, " I have got you now, you old Jaco- 
bin ! " Before he knew it he was stretched out 
and sprawling,, the other side of me and back again, 
and this way and that, he was thrown about, before 
his company could help him, and when they did, 
he was weak as a rabbit, and scared half to death ! 
Meanwhile he was trying to get away from me, 
and his club were helping him, but I held fast to 
him, and when they pulled him they dragged me. 
They rained blows upon me, perhaps fifty of them, 
but they did not hurt me materially. We became 
so crowded together that neither of us could do 
anything, and I began to call out, ''Let him fight 
his own battles !" "If he can't handle me he is not 
fit to be your leader!" "Does it take a hundred 
of you to handle one man?" "He says he will 
throw me into the river, let him try it if he dare !" 
etc., etc. Others too, began to gather courage 
and cry out, "Fair play !" "One at a time !" etc., etc. 
As the club held back a little I started with him 
for the side of the ship, but he seized a post we 
were passing with both hands, and I could not pull 
him away, so I let him go after talking rather 
plainly to him and his gang. I found this man of 
terror weaker than common men. But with the 
frenzy of strength and energy which came over 
me, I could have handled with ease more than one 
at a time like him. On the way down as I passed 
him he was careful to keep near the center of the 
boat. If any one should ask what I would have 
done with him could I have got him to the side of 



132 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

the boat, I answer I should assuredly have thrown 
him over the rail, and have gone with him ! 
Whether I should have helped him, as Cassius did 
Brutus, to reach the shore, I do not know, but I 
imagine I should have exacted some rather humb- 
ling promises first. Should any one say this was 
not a very ministerial performance, this rough 
grapple with such a brute, well, I may concede 
it. But may it not have been manly after such 
provocation to stand up for human rights, and with 
might and main to shake the conceit out of this 
Democratic bulldozer ? There are diseases no mild 
medicine will cure. Brute force for brutes, and 
"a rod for a fool's back /" What ultimate effect this 
had on Rynders I know not. But I never heard 
of his heading a riot afterward. He was quietly 
retired soon after to a place in the custom house at 
a small salary, and has long since passed out of 
mind. I may add here, that the occasion of his 
being on the boat, he and his club, was that he was 
returning to New York from a visit to the Legis- 
lature then in session at Albany, where he had been 
sent by the Tammany authorities, to overawe and 
control the vote of the city representatives there on 
certain questions before the Legislature. After I 
had been in New York the year for which I had 
been hired, the former pastor, my classmate, Rev. 
S. D. Cochran, revisited the city. A part of the 
church wished to re-engage him as pastor, and a 
part desired my continuance with them. To avoid 
a division of the church, I refused to stay, and left. 



THE FITCHBURG PASTORATE. 1 33 

AGENCY FOR THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY 
ASSOCIATION. 

I at once received an appointment to an agency 
for the American Missionary Association. The 
first place I visited to present the cause in public 
addresses, was Meriden, Conn. My first address 
was in the church ministered to by my brother-in- 
law, Rev. A. A. Stevens. Rev. Mr. Perkins, the 
pastor of the larger church down near the railroad, 
would only give me the evening hour. I did not 
like this, because at that service few save young 
people attended, and this was not the class from 
which much money for the cause was to be 
expected. But I did the best I could. Mr. Per- 
kins treated me quite coldly and after the service 
lectured me for the space of near two hours, in a 
manner most humiliating, not to say exasperating. 
No mortal man ever wounded me so deeply by his 
criticisms as did Mr. Perkins that night. I was tired 
out and made no reply. I felt like David when Shi- 
mei threw stones and cursed him, "Let him curse, for 
the Lord hath bidden him." About eleven o'clock I 
left the lecture room, he neither asking me to go 
home with him, or knowing where I was to lay my 
weary head. The next morning I wrote to the New 
York Committee that I must resign, that I had not 
the nerve to endure such assaults as these. Great 
was the indignation of Professor Whipple and Mr. 
Tappan at Mr. Perkins. But I could not be per- 
suaded to act further as their agent. Soon after 
I received a call from the Free Church of Andover, 



134 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Mass., and accepted it. Singular it was to go 
back to the place from which I had been expelled 
fourteen years before on account of anti-slavery, 
and find myself pastor of a large anti-slavery church 
and in fair standing with the other ministers of the 
place. More singular still it was to see occasion- 
ally in my congregation, Principal Taylor, "Uncle 
Sam," who was one who voted me away, now cor- 
dial and expressing his pleasure to meet me again 
and hear me preach! He thought "Mr. Bristol 
had changed greatly !" Well, I hope he had. But I 
thought "Uncle Sam," as the boys called him, was 
fairly entitled to the same compliment. 

GETTING EVEN WITH REV. PERKINS. 

While at Andover a great convention of New 
England Abolitionists was called in the Melodeon 
Hall in Boston. I was a delegate. The second day 
of the convention Mr. Tappan came to me and 
said : "You must make a speech this afternoon." I 
inquired who the regular speakers were to be. 
Among others he mentioned Rev. Mr. Perkins 
of Meriden. ''What is he to speak upon?" He 
replied, " 'The servitude recognized and regulated 
by Moses.' By the way," said he, "that is the very 
theme for you, and if you will speak upon it I will 
call upon you first." There was a twinkle in his 
eye and a smile on his cheek. "All right," said I, 
"call on me." A vast and inspiring audience was 
assembled and in the course of the afternoon the 
president called out, "Rev. S. Bristol of Andover 



THE ANDOVER PASTORATE. 1 35 

will now address you." I took the platform and 
announced my subject, "The Old Testament and 
human rights." I have seldom been more happy 
in a public address. The audience was with me 
in full sympathy from first to last, and the house 
shook with applause when I left the stage! "Mr. 
Perkins of Meriden," was now called on for a 
speech. Slowly he rose, walked up the aisle in 
deep meditation, his eyes fixed upon the floor! 
Slowly he mounted the rostrum, paced the whole 
length of the stage, then came back, and looking 
up, said : "It has been my lot often to address 
audiences like this, and sometimes under embarrass- 
ment. But never was I so nonplussed as I am 
to-day. The speaker who has just addressed you 
so ably has taken my speech out of my mouth and 
carried it off bodily ! Not only has he taken my 
subject, but has brought forth every principal 
argument I had intended to use, and not content 
with that, he has anticipated me in my illustrations 
also, and in fact, has left me nothing to say on the 
subject ! I feel like saying there is nothing more 
to be said on that topic, and taking my seat ! But 
perhaps I can say something on the subject of 
West India Emancipation." So he went off upon 
that, but he made no headway. The audience saw 
it and many beginning to leave, he flatted out and 
sat down. Now there were two men who thor- 
oughly enjoyed Mr. Perkins' humiliation. One 
was Mr. Tappan and the other Professor Whipple. 
After the adjournment Mr, Perkins came to me 



I36 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and congratulated me on the speech I had made. 
I shook hands with him and bowed myself away, 
in a manner which seemed to say : "Good-bye, let 
the past be forgotten ; we are even now /" And I 
have never had one hard feeling toward him since. 
What is it the old proverb says about " Time having 
its revenges f" 

i\t Andover I preached only a little over a year. 
I did not accomplish much. The church held its 
own and the congregation was kept together for a 
more auspicious day. But the long term of excite- 
ment, the strain of mind and nerve during the nine 
years of preparatory studies, followed by nearly 
as many more fighting the battles of reform and 
preaching the Gospel, had begun to tell seriously 
on a constitution naturally vigorous and hardy 
beyond the common lot. I had become excessively 
nervous. Insomnia had become chronic. Deter- 
mination of blood to the brain had set in, and 
physicians unanimously advised my giving up 
preaching and pastoral work for some years at 
least. I would have gone West, taken up a home- 
stead and worked upon it, but I had not means 
sufficient for that and support a family consisting 
of a wife and three children. 



CHAPTER XII. 

A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 

After much reflection and prayer over the 
matter I decided to go to California. So I sent 
to my friend Mr. Pelton of Ohio, for the money I 
had deposited with him from time to time, and he 
sent me some over six hundred dollars. Dividing 
this with my wife, I took passage on the steamship 
Empire City, and sailed from New York for 
Chagres, on the Isthmus of Panama. I was very 
sick on my passage, but recovered soon after reach- 
ing land. We were poled up the Chagres River 
in dug-outs by natives, and the rest of the way to 
the Pacific we walked and had our baggage packed 
on mules. Wonderful was this land of perpetual 
summer to me! There was not one tree or shrub 
or species of grass I had ever seen before! Yet I 
was surprised at the poverty which in many 
respects prevailed. The people were poor, very 
poor, and looked upon us "Americanos'' they called 
us, as all of us rich! In general their crops were 
poor, cane excepted. The pastures were very 
poor and our Northern hay brought fabulous prices. 
The vast tangled forests were utterly destitute of 
such berries as raspberries, blackberries, strawber- 
ries, and even such a thing as our wild plum was 

U 37) 



138 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

nowhere found in a state of nature. No such 
building timber as ours in the temperate climes 
was found in all their wood-covered country. On 
the Isthmus we were obliged to wait sixty days 
for the "Sarah Sands" which was to take us to San 
Francisco. These sixty days 1 improved in ac- 
quainting myself as thoroughly as possible with 
the country, its people, its animals, its birds, its 
reptiles, its plants, and its prospects. To this end 
1 made journeys in different directions from Pan- 
ama and carried a gun, for the double purpose of 
self-defence and of capturing game for the market. 
In this latter object I was so successful that I was 
able to hire a man to accompany me and carry my 
game and market it. I was able to pay him three 
dollars a day and have as much left for myself. 
In these excursions some rather thrilling incidents 
occurred, two or three of which may be worth 
relating. 

STEPPING ON AN ALLIGATOR. 

On a visit to the site of old Panama, a ruin now 
overgrown with cactus and large trees, I under- 
took to cross the narrow entrance where the sea 
rushed in at full tide and filled an inland bay per- 
haps a mile in diameter. My game carrier chose 
to go around, while I undertook to wade across. 
The tide was out and the mud soft and deep. 
When about half way across, I came to a small 
pond surrounding a rock. The water was very 
much riled, I judged by fish. Near the rock the 
water was nearly waist deep. I got upon the rock 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 1 39 

and rested awhile. As I let myself down on the 
opposite side, a foot or so beneath the surface, I 
stepped upon what seemed a slab, or a water- 
soaked log. It gave way gradually as I bore my 
weight upon it. Instantly I was hoisted some ten 
or twelve feet and thrown upon the top of the rock! 
The water was dashed all over the rock, and out 
of the pond rushed an alligator from twelve to 
fifteen feet long, and the time he made through the 
mud-flat to the sea was surprising! My companion 
who was near by on the farther side and saw the 
whole, remarked that he had seen pictures of men 
riding on the backs of crocodiles across the Nile. 
He had hitherto regarded them as fiction. Now 
he believed it a reality. Had he not seen it with 
his own eyes? But was it not enough to make 
one's hair stand on end after that to be obliged to 
let myself again down into that murky water and 
wade to the other shore? But I had to do it, for 
the tide was coming in and would bring around 
that rock hundreds of hungry alligators and sharks, 
and perhaps a crocodile too ! 

ANOTHER ENCOUNTER. 

At another time as I was following down the 
course of a partially dried up rivulet, shooting 
game which visited its occasional pools, I suddenly 
found myself within five feet of a large alligator. 
His jaws were partially open, revealing his great 
ugly teeth, his eye was fixed upon me, his neck 
partially bent as if in the act of springing upon me, 



140 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and his feet spread out and ready for a leap! I 
had mistaken him for a log till now I was upon 
him. I stopped short and taking an ounce ball 
from my pocket, dropped it into one of the barrels 
and as it rolled down I quickly turned the muzzle 
down and fired. I think the discharge was simul- 
taneous with the contact of the ball with the load. 
The ball struck an indentation back of the eye and 
penetrated the brain. His head dropped and I 
sprang back and none too quickly, for almost 
instantly he struck with his tail the ground where 
I stood, breaking into oven-wood the drift limbs 
scattered over the ground. I believe one of those 
blows would have broken in pieces a good strong 
cart-wheel. The alligator, like all amphibious 
animals, dies slowly. For an hour I stood by this 
dying creature studying his anatomy, examining 
his feet, teeth, hide, etc., etc. Following down 
the stream I came to a number of Spanish women 
washing clothes. I asked for a drink of water and 
told them how I had just killed an alligator. They 
at first shook their heads incredulously. But as I 
described the paroxysms of the dying animal, they 
began to believe, and delegated two of their num- 
ber to go and see if it was so. With difficulty I 
allured them along from one point to another, 
going before them, till at last they saw it raising a 
dust and beating the ground, and then they ran 
back, crying, "Aligate! Aligate!" and soon the 
whole company was there singing and shouting! 
And they blessed the "Americano/' patting him 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. I4I 

on the shoulder, and even kissing his gun. And 
they caught up their babes and pressed them to 
their bosoms and said of the dying reptile, "He 
will no more eat the pickaninny." From that time 
onward "the Americano" was in high esteem when 
he came through their settlement, and their cabin 
doors flew open wide as he passed by, and every 
favor was shown him he could reasonably ask. 

A CROCODILE. 

While on the Isthmus, I heard several times of 
a huge alligator, some twenty-five or thirty feet 
long, which had been seen some dozen miles up the 
Rio Grande River. At first I was incredulous, 
but by and by it became confirmed by the testimony 
of men whose candor I could not question, and I 
determined to go and see for myself. Two trips 
I made, but could not find him. Returning from a 
third trip in a large dug-out, I saw ahead what 
seemed a large log floating in the river. Fearing 
we should run afoul of it, I said to the steersman, 
"Look out for that log!" "I see it," he said. Look- 
ing again a moment after, I cried out, "Take care, 
you will upset us!" "I am trying to keep clear of 
it, but it will keep before us!" he replied. Just 
then I saw it was no log, but a crocodile which 
was making for us. I brought my gun down but 
he dashed under the boat and struck it a blow so 
violent that it threw me into the bottom of the 
boat. Had our boat been made of boards like a 
whale boat, I believe he would have stove in her 



I42 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

bottom. After flourishing around us a few 
moments and making the water boil like a pot, he 
disappeared, and we saw him no more. "Unurn 
sufficit." I did not get a fair view of this crocodile, 
but I believe he was twenty-five feet long. 

FOLLOWED UP BY A PUMA. 

But another and more serious encounter while 
on the Isthmus, was with a land animal, the puma, 
or South American lion, as he is called. This animal 
is very common on the Isthmus, and is by far the 
most powerful of all their beasts of prey. It is 
very bold, having next to no fear of man. In the 
early days of emigration to California it often delib- 
erately trotted through some of the outside streets 
of Panama, regardless of dogs and men. It is not 
much of a lion in appearance. It has many more 
of the characteristics of the tiger, but is much less 
fierce than that animal. I encountered several of 
them in my excursions, but as I usually had a shot- 
gun only and revolver, I neither ran from them or 
gave them chase. Like the Priest and Levite, I 
" passed by on the other side." Had they shown a 
decided disposition to try titles, I should have 
done the best I could with the weapons I had. My 
plan was to reserve fire till in close quarters, and 
then aim at an eye. For I found that nothing so 
completely confuses and demoralizes man or beast 
as to put out or wound an eye. There was one 
occasion, however, when I was so persistently fol- 
lowed up by one of these animals, with such ob- 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 143 

vious advantage on his side, that I did my best to 
get away from him. I was returning from a hunt- 
ing trip to the mouth of the Rio Grande, when I 
saw a fox-squirrel crossing the trail. I followed 
him quite a distance, as he sprang from limb to 
limb, clambering over the trees. He led me off into 
a large flock of Isthmus grouse. They flew up all 
around me, and I shot them on the wing. It was 
impossible to see them on the ground, for the 
whole forest was overgrown by a giant species of 
fern as high as one's shoulders, and completely 
shading the ground. When I had killed half a 
dozen or so of these grouse I called aloud to my 
game-carrier to come and take the game. I sup- 
posed him near; I had heard his footsteps some ten 
or twelve rods off, following me about. Receiving 
no reply, I continued to shoot till overloaded with 
game. I called again and again. While loading 
both the barrels of my gun I heard what I took to 
be his footsteps, slowly approaching in the leaves. 
I urged him to come faster, and then he stopped 
short ! Again I called, and wondered he did not 
answer nor come ! It was not like him — what 
could it mean? While I was thinking of the mat- 
ter I heard another step in the dry leaves ! then 
another, then another — each of them slow, long, 
cautious and measured cat-like steps, such as that 
animal makes in stealing upon game ! It was a 
puma! It must be a large one, and a bold one, too ! 
For he had heard the report of my gun ten or fif- 
teen times, not a dozen rods distant ! Perhaps he 



144 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

had drunk human blood and eaten the flesh of man, 
and was now hankering for mine ! Could I have 
had open ground, where I could see him, I should 
have known better what to do. Alas ! the all over- 
shadowing fern tops completely hid him from my 
view, and it would do so if not one rod distant ! 
I now called louder than ever to my game carrier, 
and again and again, but no response came back. 
He had not followed me at all, but had lain down 
beside the trail and gone to sleep, and not finding 
me when he awoke, proceeded on to Panama. I felt 
in my pocket for my hunting knife. Alas ! it was 
not there — I had lost it ! I searched for balls, but 
my game carrier had them, with some extra am- 
munition ! 

Which way was the trail ? I had turned round 
and round so many times, I was quite at a loss to 
know which way to get out of the dark forest. 
Looking northward, it seemed lighter than in any 
other direction. Perhaps there was a clearing 
there ! I would make for it. So, with a yell of 
defiance at my slowly approaching foe, I started 
off at a rapid pace. A half-mile or so, I came to 
a lower level of land — a tropical swamp, over- 
grown with low bushes, some five to fifteen feet 
high, and all overgrown and laden down with vines 
and creeping shrubs, which formed windrows 
which succeeded each other like the waves of the 
sea. Meanwhile, the puma, too, had quickened his 
pace, and trotting after me had kept his distance, 
but stopped again when I stopped. Looking over 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 145 

the swamp, I fancied there was a clear spot in the 
center, and I determined to reach it if possible. I 
crowded through the brush and clambered over 
the windrows. At each difficult one I turned and 
yelled defiance at the puma, and then vigorously 
clambered over, often becoming so entangled in 
the network that, had the puma attacked me there, 
he would have had an easy time of it. Alas! the 
farther I proceeded, the higher rose these wind- 
rows ! Seeing a tree some thirty feet high on my 
right, I sought to reach it. Could I do so, I would 
climb into its branches, then let the beast come — I 
would blow out his eyes, and then kill him at my 
leisure. Reaching the tree after a great struggle, 
to my dismay, I found it a tropical thorn tree ! — a 
species of black or red locust. The thorns were 
from six to twelve inches long, and as sharp as a nee- 
dle! They were as large around at the butt as 
one's little finger. And they guarded every part 
of the tree — the trunk and all the branches, and they 
pointed backward and downward, so that to climb 
the tree was an utter impossibility ! And now it 
seemed to me my time had come ! How many 
things had combined against me ! Well ! I must 
die some time ; might not this be as good a time 
as any — might it not even be the best? Why 
should I fear death in any form ? I knew that my 
Redeemer lived. Still, I did not relish death at 
the hand, or, rather, the paw, of a beast. Had 
not God, away back in the days of Noah, given us 
a command to kill the beast which takes the life of 



I46 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

man? "At the hand of every beast will I require 
the blood of man." Did not Paul speak of fighting 
with beasts at Ephesus? And if this was literal 
truth, he doubtless did it with a will, and effectu- 
ally. Well, I too will fight this beast as a religious 
duty, and with faith in Divine help, too ! 

I was beside a windrow some twelve feet high. 
It was fifteen feet through it, and the puma was 
now on the other side — he was within leaping dis- 
tance. Would he crawl through, or with a strong 
bound come leaping over? With ^fingers on the 
trigger of my gun, I stood there a long time, occa- 
sionally kicking against the bush, and yelling defi- 
ance ! But he was very cool — he was in no hurry ! 
I could hear his step, and even the wagging of his 
tail against the leaves ! Suddenly a shadow came 
over my face, which startled me ! It was made by 
a distant mountain behind which the sun was just 
then sinking! The tropical twilight is very short, 
and well I knew that in twenty-five minutes dark- 
ness would set in, and the puma would have his 
own way, for what could I do in the darkness ? 
What I did must be done quickly. I resolved to 
settle the matter at once. I would crawl through 
the windrow to where the animal was, and blow 
his brains out, or die like a man ! So, tearing aside 
some vines and pushing my gun forward of me, and 
lying on the ground, I wormed my way among the 
vines, perhaps half-way through. My attention 
was arrested by a vine hanging before me, which, 
evidently, had been cut off by a knife ! Some one 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 147 

had been here before, and cut that vine — probably 
a Mexican, with his broad blade, or machete. Then 
I saw another, and another, and soon I got the di- 
rection in which some Mexican, a year before, had 
cut a path, through which he could crawl through 
this jungle. I followed up the lead, occasionally 
kicking the brush behind, and sending back a yell 
of defiance. So I scrambled on, perhaps fifteen 
rods, when I came into a wider trail, where I could 
stand up and run. By and by I came into a cat- 
tle path. It was growing dark, but I ran with a 
lightness of foot which surprised me ; I seemed 
scarcely to touch the ground. The owls flew from 
the bushes as I passed them, and I imagined I 
could hear the puma bounding along but a few rods 
behind! Then I saw lights ahead, and more and 
more, and before nine o'clock I had reached the 
suburbs of Panama, and had found my tent and 
deserting game carrier, too ! 

While on the Isthmus I tried much to find an 
anaconda, but though I often heard of their being 
seen by others, I was never able to find one, nor 
any other snake of much size in all my journeyings. 
We staid at Panama some sixty days, waiting for 
the "Sarah Sands" to come around the Horn and 
take us to San Francisco. Well, she came at 
length, but proved a very poor sailor. Her bottom 
was covered with barnacles, and she had 1,200 pas- 
sengers and was so top-heavy that she rocked 
fearfully, even in calm weather. For nearly two 
months we plodded our weary way up the coast, 



148 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

all the while living on salted beef and hard tack. 
Scurvy began to appear, and other forms of sick- 
ness, and, added to all, our coal gave out when 500 
miles from San Francisco! We put in near shore 
and anchored. We tore up a great cattle corral 
and rafted the timber to the ship ; got well out to 
sea, but had to put back and anchor again, and the 
captain determined to send a messenger up by 
land to Monterey, the then coaling station of Cali- 
fornia, for a lighter to come down with coal. 

NARROW ESCAPE FROM A WRECK. 

Coming in toward shore in the dense fog of 
early morning, the ship came near being wrecked 
on a reef of rock, a mile or so off the shore of San 
Simeon. It was singularly averted. I was at 
the time afflicted with three large boils, one on my 
hip, another on my back, and the third on the top 
of my head. And because of the great crowd 
which thronged the deck by day and by night, I 
obtained permission to sling up a hammock just 
under the awning which covered the deck, and 
over the heads of those on deck, who often surged 
against my boils and hurt me terribly. It was 
about four o'clock in the morning, and we were 
under full head-way, when I was startled by what 
seemed to me the barking of a pack of bull dogs 
close at hand. The murmur and bustle on deck 
prevented those below from hearing it. Looking 
over the side of my hammock, I saw the mate 
passing below and cried out, "Captain Thatcher, 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 149 

we are close in ashore, I hear the dogs bark!" 
Glancing up he answered roughly, "The devil you 
do!" But I called out the more energetically, "I 
tell you captain, we are close in shore, I know it." 
Seeing now who it was, he cried out to the man 
at the wheel to "about ship." He did so, and as 
the great ship swung around she almost brushed 
against a long reef of jagged rocks, covered with 
seals and sea lions, whose barking at our near 
approach I mistook for bull dogs. Had we pro- 
ceeded three minutes longer as we were going, 
our ship and her 1,200 passengers would have been 
dashed in pieces on that reef! Few if any would 
have been saved, for it was near a mile from shore 
and all the way the water was white with foam, 
surging and dashing against innumerable rocks! 
For once I was profoundly grateful for an affliction 
of boils! But did Captain Thatcher ever thank the 
writer for his timely and energetic warning? Not 
he! It would have compromised his dignity! It 
would have been an admission of the possible falli- 
bility of the pope of the sea. Few of our passengers 
ever knew how near that night we approached the 
eternal shore. Dropping down the coast a short 
distance we came to anchor in what is now the 
roadstead of "San Simeon," some twenty or thirty 
miles up the coast above San Luis Obispo. 

UP THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA BY LAND. 

Not willing to stay by the ship till a messenger 
could be sent to Monterey for coal, and a lighter 



150 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

come down to our aid, I formed a company of eight 
to leave the ship there and make the land trip to the 
mines. The Captain gave us twenty dollars in 
money, each, and what provisions we could carry. 
The first night we were out came near being one 
of sad catastrophe. We camped on a hillside cov- 
ered with wild oats, beside a spring. I had killed 
some game on our way and the savory smell of the 
roast had spread far and wide on the evening air, 
and I remarked to my messmates, that we would 
have a visit from a bear before morning. It was 
arranged that I should sleep in the door or front 
of the tent, my gun within reach, to be ready for 
any emergency. Being chosen captain, a sense of 
responsibility in leading a company through an 
unknown country, kept me largely from sleep that 
night. I had been awake as I thought, a couple of 
hours, when I heard a rustle in the wild oats near 
the spring, some three rods distant. I quietly rose 
up and cocked my gun. But first I would count 
the occupants of our tent and be sure that all our 
men were there. I counted in the moonlight seven 
beside myself. Crawling out I discovered what 
seemed a bear sitting on his haunches by the spring! 
Taking deliberate aim at what seemed his head, I 
drew upon the trigger, but as I did so, the thought 
flashed over my mind, "What you are aiming at 
may not be the animals head! Should it be some 
other part, and you only wound him, you will have 
a lively time here!" So I let off my finger, and 
was astonished that the gun did not go off, for I 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 151 

had distinctly felt the give of the spring! I waited 
a moment for some movement which should reveal 
which was head and which not. A well recognized 
"ahem!" froze my heart with horror! It was my 
friend Elliott, who had risen unknown to me, lifted 
the tent cloth and passed out to the spring. I must 
have fallen into a momentary sleep, and awoke 
without being aware of it. And the way I was 
misled in counting was this, an additional man had 
left the ship and overtaken us and turned in with 
us that night, and I had forgotten it. Several months 
after I told Elliott of this and he turned pale and 
said, "Had you pulled an ounce harder on that trig- 
ger, that would have been the end of me." 

A PARADISE OF WILD ANIMALS. 

This was a very paradise for wild game, and the 
next morning, with its first opening light, I sallied 
forth in quest of something savory for our break- 
fast. I had not gone half a mile, wading through 
the rank wild oats, before I started up a huge elk. 
A few rods he bounded, and then turned and stared 
wildly at me ! How grand he looked in the morn- 
ing fog — his horns branching abroad at least ten feet 
high, and half as wide! He was quite within shoot- 
ing distance, but I hesitated to fire upon so mag- 
nificent a beast. But, as he turned to run, I let fly 
a charge of some twenty revolver balls into his 
shoulder. He was doubtless badly wounded, but 
was able to run a short distance. The dense fog 
prevented my seeing which way he went. Follow- 



1 52 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

ing carefully his trail some twenty rods, I came 
upon the great, broad, slouchy tracks of an old 
grizzly bear ! He had passed only a few moments 
before, for the stones he trod upon bore the wet 
imprints of his toes and claws. I had n^ver seen a 
grizzly, and I left the trail of my wounded elk and 
followed the bear. That this was foolhardy in the 
extreme I now freely admit. Subsequent acquaint- 
ance with that animal has forced upon me the con- 
clusion that no man has any business with a grizzly 
unless well armed with a Spencer rifle, nor even 
then, unless he has several well-trained dogs to 
hold the bear at bay or distract his attention while 
the hunter pours into his tough carcass half a dozen 
or more ounce balls. And even then it is not a bad 
precaution to have in view a tree to whose friendly 
arms he can flee, if worse comes to worst. Well, 
recklessly I pursued the bear. Soon his steps turned 
down into a ravine densely filled with live oaks. 
Slowly I ventured down, and tracked his wet steps 
up the ravine, after looking out for a tree into 
which I would spring, should he suddenly turn upon 
me. His droppings, warm and smoking, made my 
heart beat quick, for surely I was just upon him. 
Just then a great flock of quail came dashing into the 
ravine. So thick they were, I could kill at a single 
shot a good meal for all my mess. What should I 
do? "A bird in the hand is worth two in the 
bush." Quail meat is better than bearsteak. Be- 
sides, the bear may dispute my title to it. So I 
let fly among the quail, and though badly torn by 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. T$3 

my revolver balls, I bagged a good mess for break- 
fast, and returned to camp in time to help dress 
and cook them. 

Speaking of the game which in that day 
abounded in that part of California, I may add that 
on another occasion, a few days before we took 
this trip, going out to hunt with a companion, we 
saw a deer, perhaps eighty rods off. My compan- 
ion said, " You go and shoot him, as you are the 
best shot." I skulked around the hills to get at 
him, but I saw a couple not much farther off, so I 
went for them. Just as I was about to shoot, I 
saw on my right hand a very fine, large buck, so 1 
crawled in the oats to get at him. As I slowly 
rose up to shoot, my attention was arrested by 
the broad horns of an elk lying in the shade of an 
oak, not twenty rods distant. Leaving the buck, I 
crawled up the hill to shoot the elk, as I had 
never killed one. Before I reached a good 
shooting point, my companion fired at a pass- 
ing herd of elk, and a general stampede took 
place, and deer and elk and wild cattle were 
seen running in several directions. A wild cow 
and her calf came near me, and I shot the calf 
and wounded, but did not get, the cow. On another 
occasion still, I counted at one time over fifty deer 
and antelope in full view. 

Resuming our journey along the cattle trails, 
pursuing in general a northerly direction from San 
Simeon, in about one week's time we came upon 
the Salinas River some twenty miles above the old 
Catholic Mission of Soledad, or Solitude. 



154 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

CROSSING THE DESERT OF SOLEDAD. 

We staid all night at a ranch house occupied 
by a man who could speak some English. In the 
morning we inquired about the trail we should take 
to reach the Mission — we had observed there were 
two trails deeply worn into the ground, one lead- 
ing to the left, and the other to the right. The 
ranchman said take the right-hand trail. 
" Is there any water on the route?" 
" Not a drop, till you reach Soledad." 
" Is there any on the right-hand trail?" 
" No." There had been no rain in this part of 
the country for three years, and it had become a 
desert of moving sands. 

We started out, and soon came into the moving 
sands. As far as the eye could reach, all was a 
waste of sand — a desert, such as we had never 
crossed. Our water supply was sadly inadequate, 
and we concluded it would be rashness to venture 
on as we were, so we turned back to get a larger 
supply. We had but a single camp kettle, holding 
two quarts. Alas ! we could get nothing — not even 
a gourd-shell ! While we lingered I asked an old, 
impoverished Indian about the route, and when I 
made him understand our inquiry about the best 
trail, he pointed to that on the left hand. I asked, 
" Is there any water on it ?" 

" Mucho aqua " (much water). 
And when I asked, "Rio ? " (river) he replied, 
" Poketo aqua" (little water). 

This seemed a contradiction, and the ranchman 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 1 55 

said he was an old fool, but his evident sincerity 
led me to think there might be something in it. 

Filling our camp kettle we started out again and 
looked off upon the sandy plain before us, twenty 
miles long, and ten or twelve wide! Coming to 
the sandy border, we debated the question of the 
direction we should take over the desert — that 
leading toward the hills on the right, or those 
which bounded the valley on the left. A majority 
of one voted to take the left, that recommended 
by the Indian. This we did, because there was 
one chance of finding water there, while that chance 
was wanting for the other route. The question 
decided, we plunged directly into the desert. Not 
a shrub was there, or weed, or one blade of grass, 
not a bird, or rabbit, or squirrel, or animal, save per- 
haps now and then a horned lizard or a snake. All 
traces of trail were buried out of sight and our 
only director was the general trend of the adjacent 
barren mountains. We had not proceeded far 
before a sad accident befel us which came nigh 
costing our lives. One of our company, Mr. M. 
S. Robinson, had been intrusted with the carrying 
of our precious water. Stumbling, he fell prostrate. 
All our water was spilt, save perhaps a pint which 
we used at once, serving only to moisten our dry 
lips and parched throats. Our friend Robinson 
had a special facility in this line. He could "find 
an occasion of stumbling," like others I wot of, 
in very small obstacles. And when once under 
headway, he seldom failed to improve it, even if 



156 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

it took an incline of a full rod to reach the ground! 
On one occasion, as I was laughing at one of his 
feats in this line, he gravely said, -'I fall upon prin- 
ciple!" "No doubt," I replied, "the principle of 
gravitation/" "No," said he, "what I mean is that 
when I begin to stumble, I could save myself, but 
it would wrench me so to do it that I find it easier 
to go ahead and fall as easily as I can." To return 
from this digression, taking our last sip of water, 
we bowed toward the driving hot wind and pressed 
forward, the flying flakes of sand cutting our cheeks 
at every step, and obliging us nearly to close our 
eyes. 

THE MIRAGE. 
One of our company looking off toward the 
hills some four miles distant, descried what he took 
to be a lake of sparkling water. With a hoarse 
outcry and a wild gesture he called our attention 
to it. We turned from our course and hastened 
toward the blessed lake. On and on we trudged 
for a couple of miles, when I perceived that the 
lake had risen from the valley and was now well 
up, hanging on the side of a hill, a position impos- 
sible for real water. It was not water, it was only 
a deceptive pretence, it was the mirage! I ran to 
the foremost and seizing him by the shoulder, I 
whispered in his ear, "Mirage! Mirage!" He 
looked a moment in blank despair. The others 
coming up, stopped and gazed and were convinced, 
and then we all turned slowly and sorrowfully 
away and retraced our steps. Not one word was 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 1 57 

said. Our mouths and throats were so dry we 
could not articulate. At length there appeared in 
the distance before us the tops of some cotton wood 
trees, and we hastened toward one of them. We 
hoped to find some water there, at least a little 
shelter from the blazing sun. At length we reached 
it, but it afforded us but little shade and no water. 
But we pawed holes in the sand and buried our 
feet in them. I distributed some raisins and perhaps 
prunes (dried) and trying to masticate them, the 
saliva began to flow, the throat was lubricated and 
we could talk once more. This was about two 
o'clock in the afternoon and we were now only 
about half way across the desert. It was not the 
mere time we had spent without water which 
affected us so much, it was the burning sand, the 
dry sirocco which drank up every particle of mois- 
ture it could find about us. My companions were 
usually very kind to me and always polite in their 
speech, but now they began to upbraid me for 
leading them into this desert, from which it was 
doubtful if any of us should escape. In vain I 
replied that a majority voted to take it. That for 
aught we knew the other route might be as bad as 
this. That all agreed there was no water there. 
Every argument failing, and fearing I too should 
lose control of my temper if I reasoned longer with 
them, I rose up and started off saying, "I am going 
to yonder tree. If I find water I will wave my 
hat." 

I had proceeded a dozen rods or so when there 



158 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

rose gradually before me, first the banks of a creek, 
then the further edge of a stream of water, then a 
rivulet some three rods wide and twelve rods long ! 
Yonder it came, booming up out of the broiling 
sands, and yonder, in the opposite direction, it 
sank away and disappeared from sight ! All 
around were the glistening, burning sands ! Could 
this be the mirage again in a new form ? But there 
were boulders in the stream ! Then I heard the 
music of rippling waters running over the tiny 
falls ! Scarcely daring to believe I ran to the bank, 
dipped my hand into the cool stream and dashed 
a handful into my mouth! Oh, it was water! 
water ! real water ! ! and then swinging my hat 
wildly around my head, I cried out in a clear 
voice: "Water! Water!! Ho! every one that 
thirsts, come ye to the waters !" The wind 
wrenched my hat from my hand and it went bound- 
ing over the plain, but nearly in the direction of 
my comrades. At my shrill call they all sprang 
to their feet and ran, some to intercept my rolling 
hat, and some for the water ! When they reached 
it I had all I could do to restrain them from over- 
draughts which might be fatal. I urged them all first 
to wash their faces and heads and then drink only 
a handful at a time. Some of them laid down in 
the stream with all their clothes on, but in half an 
hour every thread was dry. Resting here half an 
hour, wading about in the water and admiring the 
blessed stream, we came to understand what the 
old Indian meant when he said of it, " Mucho aqua," 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 1 59 

much water, and " Poketo aqua," little water. It 
was indeed ample in amount but little and short as 
a river. Thoroughly refreshed we left the blessed 
stream and renewed our journey. Before ten 
o'elock that night we had reached the mission 
grounds of Soledad and were housed in one of the 
adobe stalls where had lived and died whole gen- 
erations of Indian Catholic converts. This was 
Saturday night. The rest of the Sabbath which 
drew on, was timely and refreshing. Monday 
morning at break of day we left the Mission, and 
wending our way through the fog, across the 
Salinas River, we proceeded down the valley on 
the north side. As the fog lifted, an immense val- 
ley spread out before us, perhaps twenty miles 
wide and fifty long. It was covered with grass 
and flowers and occasional trees. Vast herds of 
semi-wild cattle and horses were gathered in clus- 
ters on the plains. Not being accustomed to see 
men in our costume and with such packs on their 
backs as we prospective miners carried, they set 
up a wild looing, and soon they came running to- 
ward us till not less than 5,000 horned bullocks 
and cows, on either side, gathered in solid phalanx, 
and pawed the ground and tore it up with their 
horns. Some of the old bullocks were formidable 
indeed. Several times I drew my rifle upon one 
of them, but hesitated about firing till he came a 
little nearer. Finally they gradually drew off, the 
great bullocks being the last to give way and re- 
tire. Taking a right-hand trail we crossed the 



160 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Gabilan Mountains and came down upon the little 
village of San Juan. There, crossing the San 
Benito River, we went up to Gilroy. There was 
immense excitement there at that time, on account 
of the discovery of a quicksilver mine, the " New 
Almaden.'' This mine has been worked ever since, 
now some thirty-seven years, and has produced 
millions of dollars worth of quicksilver, and is per- 
haps, the richest quicksilver mine in the world. 

From Gilroy we went to San Jose, and thence 
to Martinas, a new town opposite Benicia, on the 
south side of the Sacramento River. Here we staid 
a week, because we could not get a boat to take us 
over. While there we were offered fifty dollars a 
ton for simply cutting oat hay and stacking it in the 
field. Perhaps we should have accepted the offer, 
but there was not a scythe in Sacramento, Benicia, 
or even in San Francisco, which could be bought 
for less than fifty dollars ! 

So, declining the tempting offer, we were taken 
over to Benicia the following Sabbath, in a ferry- 
boat. I pointed out a good camping-place, just back 
of the Government fort, where I intended to spend 
the Sabbath ; but my companions, sorely disap- 
pointed by our week's delay the other side of the 
river, were minded to push on toward the mines — 
Sabbath or no Sabbath, and while I tarried a little to 
get a supply of bread, they rushed by the camping- 
place designated, and were soon hidden from view 
among the hills around which the trail to Marys- 
ville led us. 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. l6l 

I was badly encumbered with my load of sup- 
plies, blankets, etc., but put spurs to my horse to 
overtake them and see what this meant. I had run 
my horse five miles before they were overhauled. 
I asked what this meant, and they replied that, so 
far, they had listened to me, and had kept the Sab- 
bath — now, in fairness, I ought to yield to their 
wishes ; that they were in a hurry to reach the 
mines, make some money, and go back to their 
friends and families. 

Why did they not let me know that at Benicia ? 
Then they could have gone on and I would have 
staid there? " Well, you have broken the Sabbath 
already, why not keep on?" We had quite a parley 
over the matter, and then we separated; five went 
on and three of us spread our blankets under an 
oak, sang hymns, read the Bible, and kept the Lord's 
day according to the Commandment. Proceeding 
on the next morning, just before noon we reached 
a fork in the trail ; one diverging off to the right led 
to Sacramento, the other led to Marysville and the 
Northern mines, our destination. I perceived at 
once that our Sabbath-breaking companions had 
taken the wrong trail and were now well on their 
way toward Sacramento. Pursuing our way, after 
several' days of travel we reached Marysville, but 
our friends were not there. And we waited for 
them three full days, when at length they came up 
on a steamboat. And a ragged and sorry looking 
set they were, and about as thoroughly ashamed 
of themselves as men well could be. They apolo- 



1 62 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

gized frankly and humbly, and said that was the 
last of their Sabbath breaking in California. My 
only reply was that we had a pleasant time, and 
inexpensive, had been there on a rest for three days. 
Had got valuable information about the mines and 
had purchased all the supplies we could take along, 
even to the rocker, and all we had to do was to 
start off for Foster's Bar. Nor did I ever allude to 
it afterward. And this silence I believe had a bet- 
ter effect upon them than any lecture I could have 
given them. Loading ourselves down with about 
seventy pounds each, we wended our weary way to- 
ward Foster's Bar, stopping once in a quarter of a 
mile to shift our galling load or rest a while. In two 
days we reached Foster's Bar, some thirty miles 
from Marysville, and what a scene of busy and excit- 
ed labor presented itself! A hundred men at work, 
as for dear life. Some in the river, some on the 
bank, shoveling gravel into buckets, carrying it to 
the rockers, rocking out the gold, occasionally 
lifting the apron to see how fast the gold was gath- 
ering at the rifle, etc., etc. The Juba River was 
broad here, spreading out over a large gravelly 
flat called a bar, on which the gold washed down 
from above had been accumulating for centuries. 
This was our first sight of gold-mining. Inquiring 
of the men how much they were taking out per 
hand a day, the general answer was, from twelve 
to twenty dollars a day. Some answered rather 
curtly, " Congress wages!" e. g., eight dollars a 
day! 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 163 

GOODYEAR'S BAR. 

The next day we went over the mountains and 
came down upon the Juba again at Goodyear's 
bar. It was like Jordan, a hard road to travel. 
And when we came down upon the river, having 
carried our heavy loads of from sixty to eighty 
pounds each, over twenty-five miles that day, we 
were none of us in a very happy mood. We were 
all footsore, our joints all ached, we were fagged 
out, hungry, u ragged and saucy!" Scarce a word 
had been spoken for the last five miles. But all of 
us kept up a "terrible thinking!" If any of our 
company were wont to swear, I fear they would 
have given vent to their feelings in that way, could 
they have found any words in the language equal 
to the situation. But at last in the dusky twilight 
we reached the bar and each threw off his load and 
threw himself also upon the ground. Turning to 
me they said in censorious tones, "Well, Captain, 
what are you going to do now?" They had eaten 
no dinner that day save a cracker or two, for the 
good reason we had none to eat, and were out of 
money all around. I replied, "Cheer up, boys! 
build up a good rousing fire! We will have a good 
supper, then a good sleep and to-morrow we will 
try the gold digging!" Some one grunted forth 
his scornful "Humph?" We had observed a lighted 
tent not far off, into which persons were going, and 
we took it to be a store. So leaving my messmates 
to make the fire, I stumbled over the logs and went 
to it. Two men were waiting on customers, deal- 



164 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

ing out supplies at enormous prices, and weighing 
out gold dust and nuggets in tiny scales. One of 
them I took to be the proprietor. Approaching 
him as soon as he was at leisure, I said, "My name 
is Bristol ; I am one of a company of seven persons. 
We are fresh from the States. We are all strapped, 
out of money, out of provisions, and as you see, 
nearly out of clothing. We have come here to 
mine, and we want some provisions, such as flour, 
bacon, coffee, sugar, salt, rice, etc.. and besides this 
we want ten dollars in money to pay for some 
freight now coming down the mountain." "Do 
you know anybody here?" he asked. "Not a soul," 
I answered. He quietly took out his memorandum 
book and said, "What name?" then how much flour, 
bacon, etc., gave the list to his clerk to fill out for 
me, then — "How much money?" and gave me a ten 
dollar gold piece, and quietly went to other cus- 
tomers. I gathered up my arms full of provisions 
and was soon at the fire my companions were slowly 
building. When I laid them down before them, 
their faces lighted up, and each lent a hand to hurry 
up the supper. But before we were through, the 
train of packed mules came down bearing our 
freight, and when I paid the ten dollars due, they 
asked, "How did you get that?" I answered, "I 
asked for it!" and they turned away and said, 
"Well, if you have not cheek!" Three months after 
this, in settling a large bill with this same trader, I 
expressed to him my surprise that at my first inter- 
view he had trusted me so largely and so readily! 



A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 165 

He laughed and said, "I am seldom deceived in 
men, and after the frank and straightforward state- 
ment you made, I knew I was dealing with a square 
man and I would have trusted you to almost any 
amount." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MINING. 

The next day we crossed the river on an im- 
mense pine tree which had fallen across the stream. 
It was probably from 1 50 to 200 feet long and as 
we went across one at a time it swayed up and 
down in the middle perhaps five or six feet, and 
it made one's head swim to look down into water 
ten or twelve feet deep, rushing beneath us like a 
mill stream. Some of us lay down and crawled 
over it. Passing a brush house, a couple of fellows 
just crawling out of their blankets hailed us, 
"Hallo! just from God's country?" "Yes!" "Well! 
call in, we want to inquire about things." We 
stopped and after awhile they proposed to show 
us some specimens of the gold they were taking 
from their mines near by. One of them named 
Eaton said, "Stuart, where did you put it?" He 
fumbled about in the blankets and drew forth a 
shot bag partly filled with gold and we took it out 
in handfuls. It was mostly in lumps about as 
large as lead-drops, or the size of kernels of corn, 
and bright and beautiful. They showed us favor- 
able locations near them not yet taken up, and we 
went to work with a will. In a couple of hours 
we had found a specimen worth about three dollars, 

(166) 



MINING. 167 

very much in shape of a heart. One of my partners 
who had a lady-love in the States said, "I want that 
to send to the 'girl I left behind me.' I wish to 
send it as a token of the heart which in the mines 
still is hers, and as a pledge that the gold I get 
shall all be hers." Of course I could not resist 
such an appeal. I might add, however, that my 
friend, after sending this and sundry other sums 
to his fair correspondent and affianced, returned a 
couple of years after only to find his bird of Paradise 
had flown and was fondly nestling with another. 
He wrote me that he was "terribly disgusted!'' 
Very likely. We had reached the mines about 
the first of June and we wrought on with the usual 
varying success of miners, but averaging about six 
or eight dollars a day, for the months of June, July, 
August, September and October. 

ROUGH TREATMENT. 

About the first of November, having worked 
out our claims, we went up the river to Downey- 
ville. On my way there, as we passed Coyotaville, 
a tall man, sitting by a rocker, hailed me. He 
proved to be one Dr. Welber, whose acquaintance 
I had made on the " Sarah Sands," on our way up 
from Panama. And here occurred an encounter 
with a rough, of which I hesitate to write lest the 
reader should regard my action as savoring too 
much of the " Fighting Parson," and as being quite 
unministerial if not unchristian. However, as it 
was more ludicrous than serious, I will give it for 



l68 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

all it is worth, and as it occurred. While convers- 
ing with Dr. Welber, the owner of the adjoining 
claim came over the heap of boulders piled up be- 
tween the two claims, and the Doctor introduced 
me to him. In doing so Dr. Welber remarked 
that I had preached some excellent sermons to 
them on the ^hip. As he said this I noticed a look 
of alarm upon Dr. W.'s face ; also a broad and sur- 
prised smile on the face of the other. 

"A minister!" said he, "A minister!!" Dr. 
Welber said, in an undertone, " You let him alone ; 
he is a friend of mine." " Not much !" was the 
reply, " will we let him alone !" " It is all my 
fault," continued Welber, " I called him down 
here; but you will catch a Tartar if you go to 
bothering him." 

But our new acquaintance was not to be foiled 
by any such considerations. He despised minis- 
ters and church members. He would have some 
fun at their expense. A ludicrous stor}^ to tell at 
the saloon, not once nor twice. He had " struck 
it rich." He stood high among the miners at the 
bar. He, too, like Welber, was a doctor, from 
Illinois. He was the one who organized a club on 
the bar, one of whose resolutions was to treat to a 
dose of mud any clergyman who should chance to come 
upon their bar! Well, he mounted the pile of boul- 
ders, and swinging his hat, he cried out : " Hear 
ye ! Hear ye ! O yes ! O yes ! Every miner 
quit his work ! Hurry here ! There is fun ahead ! 
Big fun! Come one! Come all!" Instantly, from 



MINING. 169 

up the river and down, the rockers ceased their 
rattle and the miners came vaulting over the piles 
of boulders, and in five minutes some thirty to fifty 
were on hand, and more coming. 

I suppose I could have got away by hard run- 
ning if I had started quick enough. But I have a 
constitutional reluctance to using my legs in that 
way unless the danger is quite extreme ; so I had 
treated the matter as of little moment, and contin- 
ued to talk with Dr. Welber. As the crowd gath- 
ered, Dr. Welber begged them to spare me as his 
friend ; but they wanted fun. Like the pugnacious 
Irishman, they were " spoiling for a round or 
two," and they would not hear, but bade their cap- 
tain put him through / He seized my collar and 
said : " Enough of this gab ! Dry up, Parson ! I 
will show you how we do it !" So saying he gave 
me a violent jerk which brought my right hand 
against his neck, — my left hand was resting on a 
windlass post — very naturally it grasped a hand- 
ful of his shirt-collar and vest, and perhaps some 
of the flabby flesh adjacent. There came over me 
a strange spasm of impulsive energy, giving me 
about thrice my ordinary strength, and without 
taking my left hand off the windlass, his feet left the 
ground, and half way around the "windlass he land- 
ed upon his back in a puddle of water ! What a 
shout went up from every miner's mouth — save 
one ! His hold upon me was not broken, and he 
sprang up. Seeing that I was in for it I let go of 
the post and took hold with both hands, in wrest- 



I70 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

ler's style, knocked his feet from under him and 
laid him on his back again ! Jerking him up again 
I threw him from me, ten feet distant, against a pile 
of rocks ! I intended this should end it, but the 
wicked eye which looked at me as he was rising, in^ 
stantly changed my mind. I thought he might 
have a dirk or pistol and I resolved to shake that 
out of him quick, so I sprang like a cat upon him, 
and, seizing him by the pants and collar, I gave 
him such a shaking up as made him limpy as a 
rag. " Will you behave?" I asked, energetically. 
Not answering, I started with him for the river, 
some eight rods distant. Once in a rod or so I 
repeated my question and emphasized it with a 
fresh shaking up. Meanwhile the crowd followed, 
making the welkin ring with their laughter and 
shouting. When within a rod of the river he cried 
out, " Enough, Parson !" and I threw him down, 
saying, " The next minister who comes along here 
do you treat him decently.'' Wishing to get 
through the dirty job as soon as possible I now 
turned to the largest man among them ; but he 
gracefully stepped back, bowed, and said, " No, I 
thank you ! You will pass !'' 

As no one else seemed disposed to try his hand 
at " dirtying the minister's coat," I tried to resume 
my conversation with Dr. Welber as if nothing 
special had happened ; but his mirth knew no 
bounds. He laughed and fairly roared, and so did 
the rest, even the members of the club. They 
were not malicious men. They wanted fun and 



MINING. 171 

they had got it, and they cared little at whose ex- 
pense. Dr. Welber soon introduced me to the 
miners, each by name, and soon we got into a live, 
ly conversation. They said they hoped I would 
not regard them as the worst of men if they were 
a little rough, etc. I said I could easily believe 
that, for I had seen several men before ! They 
said they " should judge so." Meanwhile my as- 
sailant, the Illinois doctor, sat on a stone, looking 
as foolish and crestfallen as a picked goose. - 

And now the miners were eager to have me go 
to their tents and take dinner with them. They 
wanted me to stop on the Bar. They would help 
me to a good claim. And if I would preach to 
them the next Sabbath they would all turn out, 
would help in the singing, and they assured me the 
best of order should be maintained, and that the 
resolution to put ministers through an initiatory 
course of sprouts should thence onward be consid- 
ered as antiquated and annulled. Within two 
days I had bought a claim for over three thousand 
dollars, two thousand of which was loaned me by 
these same miners, without interest, and with no 
security save only my note and name. 

The Illinois doctor did not feel like working 
that afternoon, so he went over to Downieville. 
But the story of his unsuccessful effort to dirty the 
minister's coat had preceded him. They piled the 
questions about it, and the jokes upon him so thick, 
that he had to treat men to let him off, and when 
he came back that night he said it had cost him 



172 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

one hundred dollars to pay for the drinks! Poor 
fellow, he soon sold his claim and left for another 
camp. The following Sabbath I preached to quite 
a congregation. As no house could hold us, our 
meeting was held outdoors and I preached to them 
literally standing on a rock. Better order, or 
closer attention no man could wish to have, and 
so it was for the following four months, and till my 
claim was worked out and I went elsewhere. The 
same miners voted me afterward a share in a claim 
worth at the time a thousand dollars, and 1 do not 
think my vigorous self-defence narrated above, 
detracted in the least from my moral and religious 
influence. 

THE BOXING MANIA SQUELCHED BY A NEGRO. 

A colored man by name of Isaac Isaacs accom- 
panied me from New York to the mines, and as 
colored men had in those days "no rights which 
white men were bound to respect," I took him 
under my special charge, and as by miners' law in 
California he could not hold a claim, I took him 
as a partner and he worked on my claim. He was 
a man of gigantic proportions, of enormous strength, 
quick as a cat, and tough as a bear. Withal he was 
brimful of good nature, and above all, he was an 
honest Christian. He was the strongest man I 
ever saw. His arms were long and his great broad 
hands, when spread out, as they hung down, looked 
like a pair of spades. During the winter of my 
stay at Coyotaville, boxing became all the rage 



MINING. 173 

at the city of Downieville. In the course of the 
winter, a Kentuckian became the acknowledged 
champion of the ring. He was very proud of his 
position and boasted much. Some one suggested 
that Isaac, or ''Bristol's negro" as he called him, 
was more than a match for him. This the boxer 
resented with scorn. "No nigger walked the green 
earth he could not whip. Had he not done it on 
his father's plantation in old Kentuck half a hun- 
dred times?" The dispute soon rose high, and the 
betting went up into large figures. One morning 
as I was about to go down the river on business, 
I saw a crowd of a hundred men coming toward 
my cabin from Downieville. When they came 
near I was introduced to this famous pugilist. He 
explained the situation politely and somewhat 
braggadocially, assuring me he "would not hurt the 
nigger" he "only wanted to show how superior a 
white man was to a nigger!" I replied that we did 
not believe in boxing here in Coyotaville, and I 
could not suffer the brutal contest. That I had no 
special fear that he could hurt Isaac, but Isaac was 
a Christian and of course would not engage in the 
dangerous and useless contest. It aroused his 
mettle somewhat to hear me intimate that he could 
not hurt Isaac, and strutting back he uttered his 
scorn of the negro's strength and prowess, howeyer 
large. 1 surveyed him from head to foot and saw 
clearly he was no match for Isaac, and briefly said, 
"No, the fisticuff must not come off here." They 
lingered around in scattered groups. No sooner 



174 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

had 1 left and gone over the hill and out of sight, 
than a rush was made for my cabin. Isaac was 
washing dishes. They bade him come out and 
have some rounds with the champion pugilist. He 
refused and then the boxer came up and said, "We 
have made a bet and I am going to lick you and 
get the money." Reluctantly Isaac went out, but 
said, "I have no chance with a white man. Should 
I beat him he would draw a pistol upon me," "No! 
no!" said the crowd, "we will see you have fair 
play." "Well, I believe in self defence," said Isaac, 
and then tried to put on the gloves. Alas! they 
were by far too small. They were thrown aside 
and Isaac squared himself for the trial, saying, 
"Come on, let us have it over quickly." Those who 
saw it said the sight of that negro was the most 
magnificent spectacle in that line they had ever 
witnessed. He showed the trained boxer that he 
was, having been taught in his youth in Philadel- 
phia. As the boxer came up, his passes were easily 
neutralized by those long arms and those quick 
motions. The first pass made by Isaac planted a 
gentle knock on the boxer's nose! Then another, 
and another, till sixteen times in succession that 
gentle knock on the nose had been made, without 
having once been touched on the body by his 
antagonist! The sixteenth, however, was a little 
harder than the others, and was followed by a 
stream of blood! Isaac expressed his sorrow, but 
the boxer now boiling over with wrath at the jeers 
of the crowd, many of whom had been bruised by 



MINING. 175 

him, and finding he could not touch Isaac with his 
fists, kicked at his abdomen spitefully. The negro's 
quick hand seized the foot as it came toward him 
and throwing it into the air the man came down 
upon his head and shoulders. Rising up he drew his 
dirk knife and was about to rush upon Isaac when 
the crowd interfered and carried him off the ground 
and back to Downieville by force. Thenceforth 
and for years it was admitted that a negro stood 
at the head of the boxing gentry in- those parts, 
and the demoralizing and brutal sport passed into 
well-deserved ignominy and neglect. 

OAK RANCH AND RANCHING. 

The following spring I took up a vegetable 
ranch, over in the mountains, near the head of 
Goodyear's creek, some eight miles from Downie- 
ville, and at the base of Monte Cristo, and asso- 
ciated with me Dr. Welber, before spoken of. 
We called it " Oak Flat." I insisted upon two ex- 
plicit agreements as indispensable to the partnership. 
One was the keeping of the Sabbath ; the other 
that no liquor should be sold upon the premises. 
We planted a large garden and bought a number of 
milch cows. Soon we began to take horses to pas- 
ture, till we had two hundred at a time. Our 
charge was a dollar a week. Miners began to get 
their supplies from us, as we could easily bring 
freight from Downieville by the pack mules which 
we sent there daily with kegs of milk. They also 
left with us their buckskin bags of gold dust. 



176 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Within a few weeks a great amount of travel came 
past our door, and not a few were the controver- 
sies we had over the liquor question. We always 
kept, in the corner of our great fireplace, a huge 
coffee kettle and a teapot, steaming and ready for 
use, while a spring of pure cold water sparkled 
near the door. Nearly every day a squad of min- 
ers, or rather several of them, would ride up to 
our door and call for something to drink. My 
answer usually was in substance this : " Here is 
hot coffee, with milk and sugar to season it ; or if 
you prefer it, there is a good cup of tea, hot and 
savory. If neither of these suit you, there is 
' Adam's Ale,' conducted here from a mountain 
spring, pure and cold as that which impearled its 
way through the garden of Eden ; but if you want 
the stuff which makes a man a fool, eats a hole 
through his stomach and his pocket too, impover- 
ishes his family and sends him to a premature 
grave, we dorit keep it!" 

The boldness and emphasis with which this, or 
something like it, was said, sometimes quelled op- 
position, but not unfrequently some such words as 
these followed: "What do you keep a public 
house for, if you have no liquor?" "We don't. 
This is a private house and ranch ; but if people 
come along here hungry and thirsty we give them 
such as we have. If they are disposed to pay for 
it, well ; and if not, they never go from our house 
hungry. But we never send a man away drunk! 
And if any of you die in California of drunkenness, 



MINING. 177 

as many of you will, your friends shall never point 
the finger at us and say, ' Youdidit!'" " Well, if 
you keep a private house of course you have a 
right to do as you see fit. Let us try some of your 
coffee and see how it will taste once more with 
cream and sugar in it." After " a good square 
meal," as they usually called it, with vegetables 
fresh from the garden, they would generally say : 
" Well, we are glad to see your pluck and princi- 
ple ! Wish more had it. It would have been a 
fortune to many of us." And when they left, it 
was with a warm shake of the hand and a promise 
to call again. Sometimes a hardened wretch 
would swear at us and curse us, but I used to re- 
quest them not to take God's name in vain, and if 
they must do it they must leave the house. One 
such case, and its interesting sequel, I will relate. 

WON OVER TO TEMPERANCE, AND HOW. 

It was that of a man from Calais, Maine, by 
name of Cooper. He had been a tavern keeper in 
that State, and from all accounts had been his own 
best customer at the bar. Quarreling with the 
temperance movement there, and I believe with 
his wife also, he migrated to California, for some 
reason taking along with him his two boys, one 
aged twelve years, and the other nine. When he 
heard our response to his call for whiskey he flew 
into a rage, cursing temperance people and saying 
that he left Maine to get away from them, and 
here they were, away off among the mountains of 



178 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

California ! Poor, persecuted man ; like Noah's 
dove, he found no rest for the sole of his foot! I 
had to laugh at his confession. This enraged him 
still more, and he became so boisterous, profane 
and insulting, that I told him he must stop swear- 
ing or leave the house. He went out and stood 
before our door, and opened his mouth wide to let 
out the big words of malediction against temper- 
ance and all temperance men and temperance 
women, against the owners of this ranch, against 
the Church, the Bible, and perhaps his Maker too ! 
Tired out at length, he built afire before our door, 
and there he boiled his coffee and fried his bacon. 
The two boys looked at their father, as he raved 
and tore about, with an expression on their faces 
which showed clearly they were accustomed to 
such outbursts of passion, but that they could not 
appreciate the cause. 

We took no notice of what he said, but kept 
about our work. We had that day made a hasty 
pudding, and with milk it was a rarity for miners 
in those days. Seeing the boys look wistfully at 
it I took out a couple of bowls of the mush and 
milk and set it down by them, with some kind 
words to them, which showed that I had not for- 
gotten that I was once a boy myself. Sour and 
mad as their father was he had not the heart to 
forbid their touching it, so they turned from the 
greasy bacon and coffee, and eagerly went for the 
mush and milk. It did one good to see them eat. 
Their bowls empty, I filled them again. Their 



MINING. 179 

father became less noisy but did not thank us or 
appear to notice what we had done. As they 
packed up and moved on we bade the boys good- 
bye, and invited them to call again ; we should 
have some watermelons by and by. 

About three weeks after who should appear one 
Sabbath morning but this same Cooper of Maine, 
and his two boys! He was now quite pleasant; 
had come to buy a bowl of that mush and milk 
such as we gave the boys. Did not care if he took 
a bowl himself ; it would remind him of home and 
old times. Ignoring all the past, we made haste 
to accommodate them. They ate and ate till satis- 
fied. What was the pay? Not J ting for the boys! 
We liked to see them ; we had boys at home. 
They should always have a free seat at our table, 
come when they might. As for himself he might 
pay the usual price. Toward evening they went 
back, but we noticed as they went, it was with 
reluctant steps and many a lingering look behind. 
Two weeks from that Sunday they came again, 
came early, and Cooper said we had stolen the 
hearts of his boys and their stomachs too. They 
had been talking about Oak Flat Ranch about half 
the time! When should they go over again? How 
beautiful those peas and corn looked! And those 
melon vines, and squashes, and new potatoes, and 
how good that mush and milk would taste again! 
Well, it was hard fare for boys like them to have, 
bacon and coffee and beans served up to them three 
times a day with unvarying monotony! In fact, 



ISO THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

he sometimes himself hankered after fresh vege- 
tables. An idea had struck him that possibly his 
oldest boy could be of some use to us, waiting on 
the table and watching the house when we were 
out. Could he pay for his board in this way and 
perhaps earn a little over, enough to encourage 
him to do his best? This was a new thought to 
us. We would think it over. Let him stay a 
week and try his hand. We would let him know 
when next he came. So he departed, leaving his 
oldest boy. We had two easy riding mules, very 
docile and we used them to pack kegs of milk over 
to Downieville. The boy took quite a fancy to 
them and before the week was out he had learned 
to take them to town walking down the steep 
mountain slopes and riding the rest of the way. 
When his father came the following Sabbath, we 
told him we liked the boy and had concluded we 
could give him three dollars a day, for six days in 
the week. Perhaps we could clothe him too, if he 
proved faithful. Cooper got up and stared at us. 
" Three dollars a day and board! That is eighteen 
dollars a week, and seventy-two dollars a month! That 
is more than I have taken from the mines so far!" 
Yes, we thought we could afford it. He was a 
fine boy. It would pay to encourage such a boy. 
He will be a man by and by. But we stipulated 
that the first $200 of the boy's earnings he 
might send to his mother as a present from his own 
earnings. He readily assented. I believe there 
were tears in his eyes, and down deep in his heart 



MINING. l8l 

I think repentings were kindling together. He 
went away happy, and when he reached the camp, 
I have no idea that he cursed the "bigoted Puri- 
tans of Oak Flat." But now, and all the following 
week the younger boy was pining for the ranch. 
"Why could not Mr. Bristol and Dr. Welber take 
him too?" He could work, could bring in the 
wood, sweep the floor, watch the house while his 
brother was gone to town, could feed the chickens 
as well as eat watermelons and mush and milk, 
green corn and peas! The next Sabbath Cooper 
and the younger boy came again. He told us of 
the boy's pleading during the week. Could we 
not use him so as to pay his board? We would 
try him a week. Saturday night he came and we 
made answer that we would give him his board 
and a dollar a day for six days, or twenty -six dollars 
a month! And now the father was completely 
won. He was evidently trying to quit drinking. 
He was no more profane and low in his talk. He 
was cleaner in person, more rational and gentle- 
manly in demeanor. Every week he was sure to 
come to the ranch Saturday evening. At last he 
proposed to give up mining and come and work 
for us. We told him we could not hire a man who 
drank intoxicating liquors. He said he had con- 
sidered that and would pledge himself that if we 
would employ him he would not drink a drop. So 
we hired him and he proved a faithful hand and a 
firm friend of ours till I left California. We paid 
him seven dollars a day or forty -two dollars a week 



1 82 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and $182 a month, and he and his two boys so 
laid up their money that after I left he purchased 
the ranch of Dr. Welber, sent money to Calais and 
brought to the ranch his wife and the other children. 
This was quite a change from the blaspheming 
saloonist who came down the mountain that day, 
and the industrious and sober rancher as I leave 
him now. 

LIQUOR SOLD ON THE SLY. 

But the liquor pressure was a little too great 
for my partner, and especially for a side partner of 
his, a German, who worked more or less on the 
ranch. They at last yielded so far as to try the 
experiment of selling it on the sly. - There was 
quite a demand for vinegar among our customers 
in the mines, and Dr. Welber bought some kegs of 
whiskey in town, and wished me to bring them to 
the ranch, as he wished to make some barrels of 
vinegar. Suspecting nothing, I did so, and soon 
observed less clamor for " the stuff" about the 
ranch. One Saturday night, as we were weighing 
out our gold, and giving to each his share, there 
stood by itself a yeast-can half full of gold dust. 
When we came to that, and it was weighed, and 
my half pushed across the table to me, I asked 
whence this came, and why kept by itself. The 
German answered, " So much we get mit that 
vinegar whiskey !" I looked straight at them while 
they tried to justify it. I pushed it back to their 
side saying, " It is the price of blood ! I will have 



MINING. 183 

none of it. Doctor, I did not expect that of you/* 
and rose up hastily and went out, deeply grieved 
and offended. What became of the money I know 
not. The subject was never alluded to afterward, 
and never again, while I was there, was one drop 
of liquor freighted to Oak Flat Ranch. 

A NIGHT WITH ROBBERS. 

The Fourth of July was near at hand, and great 
preparations were made at Downieville to make 
the attractions as great as possible. Our hired 
men must all go, Cooper and his boys. Dr. Wel- 
ber and I were to be left alone. But early in the 
morning Dr. Welber was called to Downieville on 
important business, so I was left alone through the 
day ; but the Doctor promised to return by mid- 
afternoon. We had a large sum of money depos- 
ited with us by the miners who left their horses 
with us. One soon gets tired of carrying about 
his person a bag of gold dust weighing from five 
to twenty pounds. It galls his person and makes 
him sore and lame. We had a nice place to de- 
posit it, where no one would think of looking for it, 
and there we hid our own and that of our friends, 
enjoining on each depositor to keep the matter a 
profound secret ; but when many thousands had 
been received, we found to our dismay that the 
report had gone all over the country that immense 
sums were deposited by the miners at Oak Flat 
Ranch. It was freely talked about at all the gam- 
bling saloons. We were warned of our danger of 



184 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

being robbed. Persons were killed nearly every 
week, near us, for their money. Suspicious char- 
acters began to hang about our house, watching 
us by day and night, to discover, if possible, where 
we hid the treasure. We removed it from the 
house and hid it in five-gallon tin cans, which we 
buried among the squash vines. While there, 
hoeing and pulling up weeds, we could easily 
make a deposit unobserved. But to the Fourth 
of July. 

Reaching Downieville, the Doctor found the 
important business was a proposition to buy out 
Oak Ranch and make of it a fashionable watering 
place, a pleasure resort for the city, the mines and 
gamblers. The company making this proposition 
was composed of the most desperate gamblers in 
Downieville. What would we take for it? Would 
we sell out for $15,000? Dr. Welber demanded 
$20,000. Long they debated the matter, and at last, 
late in the afternoon, compromised upon $18,500. 
The money must all be paid down, and it took till 
sunset to raise it all. And now the writings must be 
drawn up, and at this they worked until nine or 
ten o'clock at night. Just here the whole game 
was blocked by one of the party rising up and go- 
ing out with his money, saying he would conclude 
no bargain to-night, he " was too full /" This broke 
up the conference. Then for the first time it burst 
upon the Doctor's mind that this was all a ruse ! a 
scheme to keep him away from the ranch while 
confederates and employes were sent to kill his 



MINING. 185 

partner, and rob the ranch! His agony knew no 
bounds. He rushed to the stable for his horse, but 
when mounted it was so dark and so difficult to 
keep and to ascend the steep mountain trail, he 
found it impossible to proceed, and, after hours of 
effort, was obliged to turn back and wait till morn- 
ing. All night he paced the room in agony, but 
started for home with the first ray of breaking day. 
Meanwhile Oak Flat was the theater where the 
other part of this drama was being enacted. 

The Doctor did not come home by mid-after- 
noon, as he had promised. Four o'clock and he 
is not here ! Something has happened ! Has he 
not been waylaid and murdered ? Very likely, 
and if so, Oak Ranch is to be attacked and robbed 
to-night, and myself murdered ! The sun goes 
down on such meditations, and darkness comes 
on. I cannot call upon a human being for help ! 
There is not a soul within seven miles ! A cannon 
fired would arouse nobody ! A fusilade kept up 
all night around my house, and the buildings burnt 
to ashes, would be known to no outsider until to- 
morrow ! Well, I will trust in God and do my 
best to defend myself and my neighbors' property. 
Nailing fast a double pair of Oregon blankets over 
the windows, and lighting a pine knot in the fire- 
place, 1 proceeded to overlook my means of de- 
fence, to put on fresh caps and place them in easy 
reach if needed. And this was the small armory 
I put in readiness : A Colt's navy revolver, 
an Allen's six-shooter, a double-barrel shot gun, a 



1 86 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

double-barrel pistol, a rifle, a musket, and a Mexi- 
can sword ! Nearly all these weapons had been 
left for my use by the miners depositing their gold. 
These, all stacked in a dark corner, where the 
head of my bunk was, could be quickly seized and 
used. A loose board near my pillow, which I 
could remove at will, enabled me to look out and 
see what was passing. 

Nothing special occurred till near twelve 
o'clock, and I had laid down in my bunk. But I 
heard the footsteps of several men approaching 
through the dry leaves. They stopped near the 
corner of the house and held a parley in whispers. 
Then one of them came forward and tried the door. 
He did not knock but tried to force it open, but 
finding he could not, went round the house and 
tried the window, and then went and reported. 
Then all came to the door and knocked loudly. 
Instantly I was on my feet, unlocked the door, lifted 
the great latch and removed the huge crossbar, 
and swung open the door, and there I stood squarely 
before them, as good a mark as they could have 
wished! A navy hung swinging on one side and 
Allen's six shooter on the other! Before me stood 
three full whiskered men with hats pulled down 
over their eyes, all armed with revolvers, and each 
holding in his hands a short rifle! The boldness 
of my action in opening the door so promptly and 
standing so squarely before them, completely dis- 
concerted them. "Good evening," said I, "come 
in ; you are late this evening!" Mechanically they 



MINING. 187 

obeyed, and when inside I shut the door, latched 
it and put the great bar across. This bewildered 
them still more, and they peered back among the 
bunks to see if I had not helpers lying there. I 
had not a moment to lose, so stepping back into 
the dark corner among my fire arms, cocking my 
Colt's navy, I ordered them to lie down! to lie apart! 
The voice with which I spoke had a vim and terror 
about it which frightened them, and startled me 
too! Quickly they were on the floor. All fear was 
gone. I felt girt with supernatural strength, and 
I could scarce keep from dispatching them at once, 
for I believed they had murdered my partner. 
Not to prolong the account by details, thus I held 
them at bay for four mortal hours, not allowing them 
to touch one another, or to turn over or move! About 
four o'clock in the morning, a horseman rode up 
and cried "Hallo!" I opened the door and it was 
daylight. The horseman inquired the way to 
Canyon Creek, and as I went out to show him the 
trail, the three men filed out past me, and in single 
file went straight into a thicket and down toward 
Goodyear's Creek, paying no regard to trails or 
anything else, save to get out of sight! I stood and 
looked after them till they were out of sight, and 
then there went back into the cabin a man offering 
in his heart and from his lips, thanksgiving to God 
for the strange and wonderful protection! The 
supernatural strength and absolute fearlessness of 
those hours made me think of David's words when 
he said, "The Lord taught his hands to war and his 



188 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

fingers to fight, so that a bow of steel was broken 
in his hands." But now the day was coming on, 
and to work off the excitement I went to chopping 
on a log. About sunrise I heard a shout on the 
mountain top! It was the voice of my partner, Dr. 
Welber. He was frantic with joy at seeing me 
safe and coolly chopping wood and the ranch house 
still standing. All the way home he had urged 
his horse to the top of his speed. His fevered fancy 
had pictured the attack of the night, the fierce and 
well fought battle, his partner at length overcome 
by numbers, the ranch robbed and burned down, 
and the white bones of his comrade crumbling in 
the ashes! With what trepidation he approached 
a point on the trail whence he could look down upon 
the house and corral! "My heart," said he, "was in 
my throat as I drew near the spot! I don't believe 
I breathed for minutes!" Well, he came down 
shouting, embraced me, and cried. He told over 
the story of his detention as I have narrated it. 
We sat down on the log and then I told him mine, 
and again he embraced me and cried like a child. 
Some days afterward he said he would give a hun- 
dred dollars to know the conversation of those 
robbers, when they got to where they could talk 
over the experience of that night, when they were 
cowed down and held in mortal fear by one man! 
I suspect they mutually accused each other of cow- 
ardice and that each threw the blame of failure on 
the other! A man once asked me what I would 
have done had I been one of the three? I replied 



MINING. 189 

I would have done just as they did, for I had no 
doubt I should have been killed if I had not, and 
that was just what they were not prepared for. I 
will add here, that never after was one word said 
to the doctor about buying the ranch. The gam- 
blers maintained a singular silence about it. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 

And now the summer gone and the autumn 
nearly over, I began to turn my eyes homeward. 
I had got over my sick headache, slept well, had 
laid up some $3,000, and was as I wrote to my 
friends, hearty as a buck, tough as a bear and as 
strong as a lion. Before I started on this tour, I 
had promised the Lord that I would return to 
my work of preaching so soon as my general 
health was restored, and my nerves had recovered 
their balance again. But here was the temptation. 
We were making money rapidly, not less than 
from twenty to thirty dollars per day. " Stay, " 
said my partner, " but a single year, and you will 
make all the money you will ever need. " But I 
dared not trifle with a promise I had made to the 
Lord in time of trouble. So to the surprise of all 
I announced my determination to start for home 
as soon as I could arrange my affairs. It took a 
couple of weeks to take account of stock, sell off 
my share, and balance accounts. In spite of our 
efforts to conceal the purpose, it got out and spread 
abroad. It was reported that we had made a mule 
load of money, and a dozen suspicious characters 
hung around our ranch. They had no business 

(190) 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 191 

there, but they would not leave, and one of them 
was kept in our house from morning till night. 

It was plain what they were after, to see our 
gold and how much I carried away, and to rob me 
before I got home, probably before I was out of 
California. I told the Doctor the boldest course was 
ever my best hand. So one evening we brought out 
the hidden bags of gold, weighed out some fourteen 
pounds of gold, as my share. This we deposited 
in spaces about large enough to put one's finger, 
which ran up and down the front of a double lined 
buckskin vest. These spaces were made by seams 
about an inch apart up and down the front of the 
vest, so that when I put it on, the whole chest 
was covered and shielded by a layer of half an 
inch of gold! This was the heaviest vest I ever 
wore, and I did not take it off till I reached San 
Francisco. And no garment ever tired me like 
that! In fact, I wore it until I came near New 
York. It was a grievous burden! But it was a 
partial shield to the more vital parts. 

In concluding my settlement with Dr. Welber 
a scene occurred not usual in such transactions, 
which will well illustrate our general dealings with 
each other. Two hundred dollars remained on 
the table between us, which, according to Doctor 
Welber's figures, belonged to me; according to mine 
belonged to him. This arose from our different 
estimates of the cash value of certain notes I had 
consigned to him, and which were by neither of us 
considered quite as good as their face indicated. 



I92 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

The Doctor pushed the $200 over to me and said, 
" The notes are worth all 1 estimated them at, and 
that belongs to you. " I reviewed his estimates 
and compared them with mine, and said, "Mine 
are the most reasonable, " and pushed the money 
over to him. He held his hand on the money a 
moment, argued his side and pushed it back to 
me. I replied at length and pushed it back, and so 
the money, $200, went back and forth, perhaps 
half a dozen times. 

We were all absorbed in the matter, when one 
of the twenty lookers on burst forth with the ex- 
clamation, li That is a scene I never saw before and 
never expected to see in this world — two men, argu- 
ing each against himself and in favor of his neigh- 
bor! " We looked up and several of those rough 
men were in tears, and one had gone out crying, 
to give vent to his feelings! I presume it stood 
out in strong contrast with the treatment he had 
received in some financial settlement, perhaps with 
kindred and supposed friends. I don't know but this 
was a good thing for me. For the next morning 
when I left, most of those suspicious characters 
pressed my hand very warmly and seemed really 
sorry to have me go ! The matter of the $200 in 
dispute, was finally settled, by my passing the 
money over to Welber and saying, " If your esti- 
mate proves right, you may send me the money. 
If mine, then you retain it." 

I had agreed with one Langston, who ran an 
express to Sacramento, to go down with him, and 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 193 

to meet him at Goodyear's Bar, and travel with him 
for mutual protection. The next morning I start- 
ed. But Cooper would go with me until I met 
the express train. We were well armed, and had 
eight miles to travel, mostly through the woods. 
When a mile or two from the cabin I saw a man in 
a thicket looking up the trail; he disappeared, 
and we knew that danger was ahead. Cooper 
and I separated some ten rods apart, and rode rap- 
idly through the thicket. Three or four armed 
men were there. We had evidently come upon 
them before they expected us and being separated 
they dared not fire upon one when the other was 
out of reach, and could either return the fire or 
ride off for help. So we reached Goodyear's Bar 
safely. I wore my usual rough miner's clothes to 
disguise my intent. But as we rode past the 
gambling saloons, I found how vain all my precau- 
tions had been, for the gamblers rushed out and 
said, " Hello ! parson ! made your pile and going 
home ! Made lots of money, I hear ! " So I had 
to say, " Yes! made a little, hope I shall get home 
with it! Good-bye, boys, take care of yourselves. 
Adios ! " and rode on. 

The ride to Foster's Bar just at that time was 
very dangerous. Several miners had been robbed 
and killed on the route within a few days. And we 
of the express company, separated a few rods apart 
as we went through the more dangerous places. 
Thousands of men, rich in the spring, were now in 
the fall dead broke and desperate, on account of 



194 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

failures of river-bed claims whose workings had 
been immensely expensive, and which had proved 
worthless. 

SAN FRANCISCO AND OAKLAND IN 1 85 1. 

Arriving at San Francisco I called at once up- 
on my friend, Mr. Penfield, formerly a deacon of my 
church in New York City, and now a merchant 
in San Francisco, and took rooms with him. Saun- 
tering one day about the city we chanced to bring 
up on Telegraph Hill, and lay down upon the 
grass. The conversation beginning to flag, pointing 
toward the scattered clusters of oaks over in Oak- 
land and the herds of cattle roaming among them, 
I said, " Penfield, that is Brooklyn. This is New 
York! Come here a few years hence and you 
shall see a ferry boat loaded with people going 
from that point on this side, to that one over yon- 
der on the other side. Another will ply across 
from yon point, to another one there. And a 
third will cross and recross, once in an hour, be- 
tween them. The men of wealth and refinement 
will do business here, but will build their palaces 
there, and there they will spend their money. City 
lots in Oakland will sell at fabulous prices, and if 
you and I were to get a boat to row us over there 
to-morrow, and buy out some of the ranchmen 
who own those cattle, in a few years we would be 
millionaires ! " He smiled at my reverie and 
lazily said, "Very likely !" And then we went down 
to his store. I took my $3,000 from his safe, 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 1 95 

bought my ticket for New York, and the next day 
left for Panama ! To-day, and long since that day- 
dream has been a reality, and to human view, 
our neglect to make the purchase suggested, looks 
like an egregious blunder ! But it may not have 
been such in the sight of Him who sees the ulti- 
mate and complete results of such an investment, 
its influence upon ourselves and our families, and 
upon others in this life and the life to come. It 
takes the balance sheets of eternity to tell what is 
true prosperity and what is not. 

The steamer on which I had taken passage, 
was the Tennessee, and was commanded by one 
Capt. Totten, a United States officer. He was a fine 
officer, but in poor health. There were 1,200 pas- 
sengers on board and we were terribly crowded. 
Just outside the Golden Gate we took some 
cattle aboard to kill on the passage for fresh beef. 
I was amused at the mode of handling them. A 
herd of the semi-wild creatures was driven down 
to the shore and held at bay there by the Spanish 
horsemen. Some of them were crowded into the 
surf. A lasso from a man in a boat was thrown 
over the horns of one of them, he was hauled off 
into deep water, and the rowers towed him a mile 
or two to the side of the ship. An end of the lasso 
was thrown on board, and the steam-engine in a 
trice lifted him from the water and raising him 
thirty or forty feet by his horns, swung him into 
his stall on deck where he was to stay till the ship's 
butcher had need of him. 



I96 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

It was a singular sight, a huge bullock of 1,000 
to 1,500 pounds thus swinging between heaven 
and earth, dangling bv his horns and kicking and 
pawing in the air ! 

Thus getting our supply of beef, we proceeded 
on our way. The next day Capt. Totten called 
the passengers together and said, " I cannot do 
justice to this crowd of passengers without help. 
I propose to divide you into groups of one hundred 
each. There will be twelve such groups. Let 
each choose its Captain. Let that Captain have 
charge of his mess. Let him preside at their 
tables and note all their wants and communicate 
them to me, and through him I can see that justice 
is done to all his mess." 

I was chosen Captain of the second mess of a 
hundred which was formed, and got along finely. 
We had some sick in my company, but none of 
them died on our way to Panama. One of them 
lay at death's door near a week and the way of his 
recovery was quite remarkable. I was watching 
with him one hot and sultry night, not expecting 
him to live till morning, when a cyclone accom- 
panied with a water-spout, struck our ship. Tons of 
water fell upon the deck almost in solid mass, 
sweeping overboard hats and blankets, and every 
other light thing on deck. The ship careened 
and lurched as if she would capsize. My sick man, 
startled at the unexpected visitation, sprang to his 
feet and with a wild shriek leaped upon the rail 
and in an instant would have been overboard, 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. I97 

had I not seized his clothes and with a jerk brought 
him back upon the deck. We both fell, I upon 
him with a force which might nearly have killed 
a well man ! From that moment he began to re- 
cover, and was well, and on his way to meet his 
family in Iowa, when I parted with him. His 
gratitude was unbounded, and I had to promise 
him I would visit him and his family. A promise 
— alas ! I shall never fulfil in this world, as I have 
forgotten his name and place of residence. I re- 
turned him the gold and letters he had given me 
to bear to his wife in case of his death, and bade 
him a long farewell. That cyclone, that bath of 
water and that fearful fall were the things which 
broke the fever, startled into action the vital forces 
and saved him, so I believe. 

A sailor's violence suppressed. 

Perhaps I may go back a little and relate what 
else happened over this sick man a few days be- 
fore. It was a hot noon day, when I was fanning 
this man and wetting his forehead, that several 
sailors were passing through the crowd on deck, 
and crying, "Clear the way !" Of course I could 
not instantly move the sick man, but was trying 
to do so, when a tall, athletic sailor coming along, 
cursed him and kicked him in his side. I seized 
the sailor's heel and he fell upon his back ! He 
was the largest sailor on the ship, and their ac- 
knowledged bully. Indeed, he was a petty tyrant 
over the sailors, none of them daring to offend 
him. 



I98 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

The officers too, found hard work in managing 
him. Mortified by his fall, he sprang up and at- 
tacked me ; I was up as quick as he ; we grappled 
and he was floored. Seizing the middle fingers of 
both hands and turning them nearly out of joint, 
I held them in that condition, till he dared not 
stir, for fear of what else I might do with them. 
The sailors rushed to his help, but were pulled off 
by the passengers. An officer came and ordered 
me to let him up ; I did so saying, Now you must 
take care of him. No sooner was he up than he 
flew at me again. Once more he fell upon the 
deck, and I was on the upper side, and again I 
pinioned him so that he could not possibly hurt me. 
Again the officer bade me let him up, but I refused, 
and sent for the Captain. To him I gave my rea- 
son for not obeying the under officer. I now let 
him up again, and he went off with the Captain. 

The sailors were now all down upon " that 
bloody landsman." Meeting this same sailor a day 
after he said, "Your little pile will be of no use to 
you ! When we land at Panama I will see that you 
don't cross that Isthmus ! " I smiled and said, "Let 
me see your face on the Isthmus if you dare ! If I 
get hold of you there, there will be no Capt. Tot- 
ten to help you up when I have got you down !" 
Well, I suppose he meant to scare me, at least that 
was all I meant. I thought it best to let him know 
that I was not afraid of him, there or elsewhere. 

AN ATTACK OF ROBBERS ON THE ISTHMUS. 

When we arrived at Panama, we heard that 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 199 

two steamers, one an opposition boat, were waiting 
to receive passengers on the Atlantic side. A 
meeting was held on board before we landed. A 
committee of three was chosen to hurry across, 
and secure passage for New York, on the best 
terms. I was one of them. Landing, we found 
some two thousand mules and horses and their 
owners waiting to carry us and our baggage. 

Wells & Fargo's express alone, required one hun- 
dred animals, to carry across their packages of gold, 
containing $2,000,000, and each horse-load being 
$20,000, or 100 pounds in gold. The next day 
we started off, on our way to Cruces, the head of 
boat-transportation on the Chagres River. 

My two companions began to run horses. Not 
wishing to be left behind I too, put spurs to my 
horse. The trail was woody nearly all the w T ay, 
and we ran through a defile, at full speed, one 
horse a dozen rods ahead of mine, and the other 
as far behind. 

A band of twenty robbers lay there con- 
cealed, ready to rob the train. We passed through 
unharmed, but they opened fire upon those who 
followed us, and robbed and wounded quite a 
number. It was a sad sight that night when the\ 
were brought into Cruces, bloody — gashed — pen 
niless, and among strangers ! Some of the mules 
laden with gold were captured, taken off into the 
forest, and their loads taken off. But the miners 
returned their fire and soon routed, pursued and 
captured several of them and recovered most of 



200 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

the booty. The fifty pound packages of gold 
could not be carried off very fast by a footman. 

At Cruces I took passage down the river, and 
soon found I had fallen into about the most low- 
lived gang of dissolute fellows I ever fell in with. 
Finding they had a minister aboard they did their 
" level best" to annoy and disgust me. And we 
had a hot time of it. I believe I never before or 
since heard as much profanity or obscenity uttered 
in the same length of time. I stood my ground, 
and attacked them " hip and thigh," right hand 
and left, sometimes answering a fool according 
to his folly, and sometimes not deigning to answer. 

On the way down, a tropical thunderstorm 
aided me greatly. It came upon us very sud- 
denly, the wind nearly capsizing our boat, the rain 
falling in torrents and blinding the helmsman while 
the thunder and lightning were terrible. In five 
minutes we were all drenched through to the skin, 
and a sorry looking set we were. The most of 
them were terribly scared. When the rain-cloud 
passed, my hour of triumph had come ; they were 
too wet and cold to joke and too badly scared to 
swear, and I talked to them very seriously. Be- 
fore we reached Chagres, they had become very 
quiet and decent. Most of them openly admitted 
their conduct had been most reprehensible, that 
I was right, and they meant to turn over a new 
leaf when they reached the States. One of them 
took me aside and said, When we reach Chagres, 
let us room together in the hotel. I said, No, you 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 201 

had better room with your friend — a downright 
atheist, who with him had been the leaders of the 
crowd. No, he said, he could not trust him, or a 
man of his sentiments, for said he, "I have $5,000 
in gold about me, and I dare not room with 
him." Well, I finally consented, and the week 
I spent in Chagres, before starting for New York, 
he was often gone half a day leaving his gold with 
me ! Atheists and deists will always trust Chris- 
tians as they will not each other. 

i\propos, I may add here that I once overheard 
a tavern keeper, in the place where 1 had lived 
some years, running down the character of the 
Christians of the place. He said to his guests 
there was not one of these Christians he would 
trust with five dollars, without security. Just then 
I walked in and asked him to repeat it. He did 
so, and then I turned to the strangers and said, 
"Over a year ago this man came to me and said, 
'I have $1,000 paid me in gold to-day. I dare not 
keep it at the tavern ; wont you keep it for me till 
I call for it?' Well, reluctantly I consented, saying 
I would not be responsible for it, as I should take 
no pay for running the risk. Well, gentlemen, I 
kept it without giving him the slightest security 
and when he wanted it he came and found it all 
there and got it, too!" His guests laughed and he 
left for the other room. 

To return to Chagres. On arriving we found 
the opposition steamer had taken fire and burned 
down, no doubt the work of an incendiary suborned 



202 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

by agents of the other boat. The price we had to 
pay for passage to New York amply illustrated 
the saying that "corporations have no souls!" 
On our way home our ship called at Kingston, 
Jamaica. Just off the harbor a pilot came aboard 
and as usual took charge of the helm and the ship, 
giving out his orders as captain. He was a mulatto, 
but very polite and civil. Some Southern bloods 
on board were greatly incensed at hearing a "nigger" 
as they called the mulatto, give out commands to 
white sailors, and they were very free with curses 
and words of scorn they heaped upon him. Our 
captain was a coward and did not summarily sup- 
press it as he should have done. The pilot said 
nothing, but attended strictly to his business, bring- 
ing the ship into port. When he had laid her up be- 
side the wharf and taken his fee, he turned to these 
bloods and said, "If you think either of you is a better 
man than I am, step down upon the wharf and 
we will settle the matter." This was too much for 
them, and they rushed upon him, half a dozen of 
them, struck him and kicked him down the gang- 
way. In about five minutes, half a dozen policemen, 
all black as the ace of spades, came marching up 
the planks with the pilot, and seizing one and 
another of this Southern gentry, bore them and 
their defenders off to the calaboose. And there 
they had to lie and sweat and fight fleas for nearly 
a week, for it took that time for tardy English jus- 
tice to get around to their case, which finally they 
did, fined them severely and let them and our ship 



GOING HOME TO THE STATES. 203 

go on our way. I wanted to get home, but I was 
quite content to stay for the sake of having these 
haughty oppressors for once punished for their 
insolence and pride. It was amusing to go daily 
and look through the grates, and see these young 
despots of the Southern plantation sitting demurely 
in the dingy calaboose, and doing the bidding of 
stalwart negroes wearing Her Majesty's uniform, 
and clothed with her authority! 

On our way from Jamaica to New York we 
encountered a fearful storm. Nearly all of us were 
seasick. In the course of a stormy night, when 
the air was too foul to stay below, and on deck we 
were drenched with the rain, my buckskin vest 
and a belt of gold dust besides, became too oppres- 
sive to bear, so I took them off and rolling them 
up together I staggered down the stairs to the 
purser's office and left them in his keeping. In 
going there I had more than once stumbled over 
some person lying on the floor. When I got back 
it occurred to me that I had handed to the purser 
but one of my gold packages, and that probably the 
other had slipped from my hand in one of my falls 
or lurches, as I went down. But I was so sick and 
exhausted that I would not go and look for it, though 
it contained $800. But feeling better toward 
morning, as soon as it was light, I took a look where 
I had fallen, and there I found indeed a purse of 
gold, but it contained about $400 only, and it was 
not mine. I called aloud, "Who has lost a purse 
of gold?" The sleepers woke up and began feeling 



204 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

about themselves and one of them said he had lost 
one and described the one I had found, so I gave it to 
him but did not find mine. When we reached New 
York I called on the purser, paid him ten dollars 
and received my buckskin vest and found the $800 
purse wrapped up in it! 

From the time I left New York, one year and 
a half before, an impression had been upon me that 
I should not live to return and it held fast to me 
like a vampire till 1 stepped upon the dock, and 
then its hold was broken, and it vanished forever. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 

Hastening to my family in Massachusetts, I 
staid with them a couple of weeks and then started 
off on a tour through the States of Ohio, Michigan 
and Wisconsin, in search of a location. The place 
I wanted was one on the frontier, where a home 
missionary was needed and where I could invest 
the $2,500 brought from California in a homestead 
for myself and family ; where I could work the 
blood off my brain after preaching, and keep my 
nerves in tone, and where also I could do some- 
thing toward self-support. It seemed to me I 
was specially fitted for such a field by my sympa- 
thy with toiling and struggling humanity, the prac- 
tical in distinction from the theoretical cast of my 
sermons, and by the necessity of much physical 
exercise, which in a minister will be tolerated on 
the frontier, and scarcely nowhere else but there. 

Landing at Milwaukee, Wis., I stopped at the 
American House. Wishing to be by myself, to 
think over plans of further travel, I went into a 
small room whose walls were lined with cloaks 
and overcoats. I seated myself in a corner, and 
tipping the chair back against the walls, I drew 
the coats and cloaks over me. This nearly con- 

(205) 



206 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

cealed my person. After a time a man came to 
the door, looked in, and turning around, said : 
" The coast is clear ! No one here !" Three men 
came hastily in, and, locking the door, sat down 
around a table and began a lively talk over the late 
political contest in that State. After no small 
amount of cursing and swearing at random — vol- 
leys shot off in the air — they began asking each 
other how much they had made by selling their 
votes and influence to the different parties, Whigs, 
Democrats and Germans. One swore he had 
made five hundred dollars ! another a thousand or 
so, while one, whom they called " Sat,'' swore that 
he got big money from both parties, but voted the 
Democratic ticket ! Much they laughed over this 
feat, and slapped Sat freely on the shoulders, and 
called him " a devilish good fellow !" I had heard 
it all, and at this juncture the cloak was seen to 
move aside, and down came the chair upon all 
fours, with a thump, and a man in it/ 

With a smile on my face I walked up to their 
table and said to the astonished men, " I have been 
quite interested in your conversation. From your 
own account you must be a scaly set of fellows, 
selling your votes and perjuring yourselves, and 
what not in that line ; but which of you is that 
man 'Sat,' who deceived alike friends and foes?" 
One of them colored a little and said, " We have 
not been accustomed to be talked to in that style." 
" That is because we have not been accustomed to 
meet," I said. " Where are you from?" he asked. 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 207 

" Fresh from California," I replied, and at that 
they all quieted down, for in those days a Califor- 
nian was deemed little less than a grizzly bear 
walking on two legs ! I afterward lived within 
half a dozen miles of this same "Sat" or Satterly 
Clark, and often met him, and found my first im- 
pressions quite correct in his case. 

SETTLEMENT IN DARTFORD, WIS. 

Taking the stage, I fell in with the State Super- 
intendent of Schools, a Professor Root. He invit- 
ed me to visit his home at Dartford, Green Lake 
county, Wis., and spend the Sabbath, and I did so. 
A new Methodist church had just been built. I 
attended church in the morning and was invited 
to preach in the afternoon. As soon as I had en- 
tered the pulpit a home feeling came over me. It 
seemed to me that everybody there knew me and 
had confidence in me, and that I knew and loved 
them all. When I rose to preach, how silent was 
that house. Every word seemed to go to the 
heart. And when 1 prayed it seemed as if God 
were there too ! The sermon was by no means se- 
lect or a favorite with me, but to this day, though 
thirty-five years have gone since then, 1 remember 
the text and much of the sermon. I have heard 
some who were there say, not long since, it was so 
with them. The text was, " The Lord is my Shep- 
herd, I shall not want." It was a parallelism of 
the model shepherd's treatment of his flock, and 
God's care and tender love toward his people ; 



208 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and I think when the people went home that day, 
the Lord seemed nearer and dearer to them than 
when they came to church. When the meeting 
closed there was a hasty call of the official board 
and leading citizens, and an earnest invitation was 
tendered me to cast in my lot with them, and the 
use of the house was offered me half the day each 
Sabbath. 

On the following Sabbath day I preached to 
them again, and it was now settled in my mind 
that this was the field for me ; so I negotiated with 
Prof. Root for his farm, and not long after I and 
my family were there, clearing my farm, visiting 
the people, and preaching the Gospel. I soon es- 
tablished three preaching places, in as many adja- 
cent towns, where every Sabbath day I preached 
one sermon, about as fully crowded with Gospel 
meat as 1 could pack and press it. One was in 
Dartford, one in Green Lake Prairie, and the other 
in Metomon. My usual Sabbath day's journey 
to reach these places was fifteen miles, when I 
staid at the latter place over night ; when I returned 
home the distance was nearly thirty miles. Other 
weekly meetings I held in schoolhouses, but the 
above were my regular appointments. 

In process of time the schoolhouse gave place 
to the church edifice in each of these three places. 
I greatly enjoyed my work. I loved the people, 
and they were not slow to return it. I rarely 
preached without feeling upheld by a hand unseen. 
The free use of the handkerchief about the eyes in 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 209 

my congregations showed that others, too, beside 
myself, felt the moving power. Sometimes men 
staid away because they could not keep from weep- 
ing when they came. 

REVIVALS. 

Revivals of religion began to follow my preach- 
ing, and when commenced I was wont to follow 
them up, even to strange places. Sometimes I 
spent the whole winter in these revival labors, and 
besides doing a great deal of work in visiting and 
prayer-meetings, I sometimes preached nearly one 
hundred sermons in as many consecutive days. I 
was by no means particular under what denom- 
inational auspices I held these meetings. Thus 
often I preached through a revival meeting with 
the Baptists, then with Free Will Baptists, then 
with Presbyterians and Methodists. Indeed, my 
own denomination complained much that I helped 
other denominations more than my own ; but 
I went where the way seemed open, with a 
promise of most good ; besides, I believed I had a 
special mission to bring all these churches a little 
nearer together, and to show to outsiders the essen- 
tial unity of the whole household of faith. And so 
it came to pass that each of these denominations 
put in a special claim to me as being specially near 
to them. Some of these revivals were remarkable 
for the firm establishment upon the Rock of nearly 
all the professed converts. Thus, in one of them, 
in counting up the converts, we estimated that 

14 



210 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

thirty-two gave satisfactory evidence that they had 
passed from death unto life. Two years after, in 
looking over the list, there were thirty -six of those 
inquirers whose conversion time had proved to be 
genuine. 

After an absence of twenty years, in revisiting 
these fields I was surprised at the number of min- 
isters who came out of those revivals and are now 
preaching the Gospel. From one out of the way 
place five preachers came forth, and from nearly all 
of them at least one. Thus and in such labors on 
the border I spent ten of the most active and suc- 
cessful years of my life! And, albeit there were 
serious drawbacks, they were among the happiest 
years of my life. Did not the Master say ; 
"Your joy no man taketh from you"? My salary 
was small, seldom rising as high as $500 a year. I 
had a wife and three children to support. But 
what I lacked in salary I made up in economy, 
self-denial and toil on my farm. It was often a 
comfort to read Paul's words, u These hands have 
ministered to my necessities and those who were 
with me." And I took joyfully these extra labors 
and this stinted salary because God gave me what 
was better than gold, he gave me "souls for my 
hire and crowns for my rejoicing in the day of the 
Lord Jesus." This labor on my farm was much 
criticised by my brethren in the ministry, and 
especially by the agents of the Home Missionary 
Society. They even refused me a grant of $100 
per annum to help me in my work, solely on the 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 211 

ground that I worked more or less upon my farm 
to eke out what was lacking for my support in the 
gifts of my people. Rev. Dexter Clary, long time 
agent of the great Home Missionary Society, ad- 
mitted that the society had not in all the State of 
Wisconsin one home missionary who preached as 
much as I did, or as successfully, but said the 
society could not aid me unless I gave up work 
upon my farm. "What shall I do," I asked, "with 
nerves so unstrung that should I stop work, I must 
stop preaching also?" "Travel! travel!" he said. 
But I said that would not restore them as hard 
work will. Besides, where is the money coming 
from, and who, in the meantime, will take care of 
these precious flocks, many of whose members are 
tender lambs and need constant care? No, I can- 
not leave them, and I will not! "Well!" he said, 
"these are our printed rules!" and so they were. 
But in my view they ought to have been flexible 
enough to meet such a case as mine. Well, I told 
my friend Dr. Clary I believed the Lord had given 
me too much good sense to follow his advice, and 
too strong and tough muscles to make it absolutely 
necessary that the society should help me in order 
to continue my work. So we parted good friends, 
and I wrought on unaided, and lived and prospered. 
And now as I look back over the years and call 
up before me the fellow missionaries who wrought 
by my side, and who received aid from the Society, 
I cannot see but I fared about as well as they, my 
family lived as comfortably, and I gave as much 



212 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

as they to benevolent objects and laid up against 
a rainy day a little more than nine-tenths of them 
did. "He that gathered much had nothing over, 
and he that gathered little had no lack." 

STRIKING INCIDENTS. 

During the ten or twelve years of revival labors 
on the frontier, not a few incidents of special inter- 
est occurred. Among them there rises up before 
me one in which two dollars played a conspicuous 
part. 

A gentleman and his wife came to our place 
from Vermont. Soon after his arrival he visited 
me with a Mr. Brooks, a friend of his, in quest of 
a new milch cow. I showed him two or three I 
had to sell. He took a liking to one, for which I 
asked twenty-seven dollars. Would I not take 
twenty-five? No, I had rather keep her than part 
with her for less. He had heard my neighbor, Mr. 
Sherwood, had some fine cows for sale. Yes, he 
has I hear. They are blooded cows and I should 
think much nicer than mine, but 1 suspect his price 
is higher. And I advised him to go and see them 
and showed them a short way across lots to his 
house. They started but soon came back and took 
the cow. That night I felt somewhat troubled 
about that cow trade. Perhaps she was worth only 
twenty-five ; besides, this man is a stranger, perhaps 
not specially well off, sold out at low prices, has 
had an expensive journey and now has to buy at 
high prices and feels poor! So it was with me ; I 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 213 

know the heart of a stranger. I ought to have 
been specially lenient in his case. Well, I promised 
the Lord I would hand him back two dollars, 
turned over and went to sleep. Some days after, 
meeting him on the street, I handed him the two 
dollars and said, " Here are two dollars which belong 
to you." He took them mechanically and asked 
whence they came. I told him my thoughts after 
he left with the cow, and the promise I made to 
the Lord. He thrust back the money and protested 
against receiving it. Said the cow was better than 
I had recommended her to be. She was worth 
twenty -seven dollars. He would not take that sum 
for her. But I refused to take it back, saying I 
had given my word to the Lord and could not go 
back upon it. That night at the supper table he 
laid the two dollars before his wife and asked her 
to guess where it came from, and when she could 
not, he informed her and added, "I believe that 
man is a Christian if there are any, and I am going 
to hear him preach next Sabbath." So the next 
Sabbath they came. The meeting was in the town 
schoolhouse, and before we built our church. 
They listened attentively. Going home they talked 
about the sermon. It was excellent, only it was 
too personal; it meant them. Somebody had informed 
Mr. Bristol of their history, and that sermon was 
cut out so as to fit their case. But how did he 
know they were coming to the meeting? The next 
Sabbath they were there and joined in the singing. 
They were still more interested in the discourse 



214 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

than the Sabbath previous. The only fault was as 
before, too personal. He certainly meant us this 
time. Who had told him? Dora, or Azel, or 
Susan. It was too bad! They would give them a 
talking to for it. That week they saw Dora and 
she denied it. Had not spoken with Mr. Bristol in 
three weeks, except on the Sabbath at church. 
Then it was Susan sure. She was seen, but in her 
mild way said, No she had never informed the min- 
ister of their history nor any one else. Azel was 
seen. He smiled and said, "That is characteristic 
of our minister's preaching. People often go away 
sajdng, 'He told my history sure.' " So as they 
talked about it one evening, Mr. Williams 
remarked, "I have heard it said that when people 
are under conviction they imagine the preacher 
means them in all he says.'' And then there was 
a long solemn pause and the conviction came upon 
them, "God's spirit then is striving with us, we are 
under conviction! Now is our accepted time and 
this the day of salvation," and before the clock 
struck twelve they had bowed upon their knees, 
had opened the door and the Friend of sinners had 
come in and was supping with them and they with 
him! Meantime my heart had been greatly moved 
toward the strangers, and the next day I called 
upon them and they told the story as I have related 
it. Rapidly they grew in grace, united with our 
church, Mr. Williams became leader of our choir, 
superintendent of our Sabbath school and I believe 
deacon of our church. Sometimes I had calls from 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 21 5 

other places, but he used to pray that I might not 
leave till he was called away. The prayer was 
answered. Just before I left the Lord called him 
home. I was with him at his bedside the last half 
day of his life, saw him crossing the Jordan, and 
heard him say when well nigh over, "I am happy!" 
"And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends 
of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye 
fail they may receive you into everlasting habita- 
tions." Another incident full of interest to me, 
yet pathetic and sad in its outcome, occurred in 
connection with a revival meeting I held in Ripon, 
a thriving young city adjacent to the village of 
Dartford. 

ALDERMAN BERLIN. 

One Alderman Berlin, whose home was in the 
township of Green Lake, and a well to do farmer, 
was living in Ripon at the time. Being of a liter- 
ary turn of mind and fond of society he spent his 
winters in town, boarding at the best hotel. In his 
rooms were wont to gather, once or twice a week, 
men of like literary tastes, education and leisure — 
doctors, lawyers, etc. These meetings were large- 
ly for the discussion of topics of interest, and were 
concluded with wine drinking and feasting. Un- 
fortunately Alderman Berlin was a disbeliever in 
the Bible and all revealed religion. As our meet- 
ing progressed and not a few professed conversions 
occurred, some of them being men and women of 
note and influence, the matter was brought up in 
this literary circle. In the course of the talk about 



2l6 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

it, Alderman Berlin remarked that " the philosophy 
of a revival, or of these periodical religious excite- 
ments, had never been satisfactorily explained to 
him. He would like to understand it." Referring 
to the preacher, he said, " There is Rev. Bristol, 
carrying on these meetings ; he is my neighbor ; 
lives just across the lake. He is a man of educa- 
tion, well informed on all subjects, and a man of 
good common sense. How is it that he can be 
carried away with these excitements ; and more 
than that, how can he do so much to promote them ? 
It is a mystery ! I propose we investigate it." 
" Agreed," they all replied ; " let us go to the meet- 
ings and watch the whole process." So the fol- 
lowing, evening they all came to church. 

Quite a sensation was produced as a score or 
so of them came filing into the church, led by Mr. 
Berlin. They gave good attention, and even 
staid after sermon till the inquiry meeting was 
half through, and then quietly withdrew, and 
repaired to their quarters in the hotel. A discus- 
sion followed, but the conclusion was that they 
had not got the clue yet. The discourse was sen- 
sible, and admitting that there was a God and that 
the Bible was His Revelation, the conclusions 
were irresistible. They would go again. The 
next night they came in a body and were among 
my most quiet and gentlemanly hearers. Return- 
ing to their rooms they admitted " that was a very 
practical discourse / Would all men live as the 
preacher exhorted them to do, this would be a 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 217 

vastly better world than it is. Such preaching 
will hurt none of us." They were surprised at the 
absence of excitement. There was no effort to 
produce it. The appeals were all to man's con- 
science, his reason, his common sense. " Surely 
this is not the kind of revival so often described ! 
Yet what effect that preaching had ! How many 
were moved by it ! We will go again." And 
again they came, and so on for several meetings, 
the judgment on each occasion being the same 
substantially. 

It happened one evening, during the inquiry 
meeting, that I went into the back part of the 
church to encourage a timid inquirer to come for- 
ward to the consecration seats. The congregation 
was standing and singing. Mr. Berlin was in the 
aisle. I had no thought of asking him to go for- 
ward until, as I passed him, an impulse came over 
me to do so, and with it an appeal whose language 
I have never been able to recall. Like a flash it 
came and went, but such was its effect upon him 
that he took my arm and walked half way down 
the aisle. Then he held back and said, " This is a 
great step ! Excuse me to-night !" " Mr. Berlin, 
do you want to be excused from pledging yourself 
to do anything which is right toward your Creator 
and your fellow men?" " Let me have till to-mor- 
row night to think about it." " God has given 
you fifty years to think over the great matter. 
Have you the heart to ask for more time in so plain 
a matter ?" " It is a great step for me to take." 



218 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

"Is there not more danger in not taking it?" 
«' Yes, yes, I know it ; but you must excuse me for 
to-night." " But will God excuse you? Will 
your conscience ?" 

Well, so we stood in the aisle and reasoned, my 
heart yearning after him, as once Paul stood and 
reasoned with trembling Felix, when he said, " Go 
thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient 
season I will call for thee." He sank down into a 
side-slip, and slowly I went down the aisle, with 
longing looks behind, at the seat where my friend 
sat down. The meeting proceeded, and " they 
that were ready went into the marriage." The 
next morning, before the sun was up, a boy came 
to my boarding place, bearing a letter from Mr. 
Berlin, and thus it began : 

"Dear Friend : Can you forgive me for the sor- 
row I gave you by not complying with your 
request last evening? No act of my whole life has 
ever stung me so deeply! That request so kindly 
presented, so gently pressed, and prompted I well 
know by a deep interest in my eternal welfare, how 
could I refuse to comply? No one ever presented 
this great matter to me in such a rational light before. 
No one ever took my arm before and volunteered 
to go with me to the altars of the Lord, and I can- 
not forgive myself for the grief it gave you because 
I did not go," etc., etc. It closed with an invitation 
to call at his rooms that day. I did so. But his 
fertile mind had conceived a plan of delay from 
which I could not dissuade him. It was that in 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 219 

the coming summer, after the spring's work was 
done, he was to hire a man to take my place on 
my farm, and I was to spend a couple of weeks at 
his place, and there we would talk over the whole 
matter, and then he would settle it forever. In vain 
I argued against delay, its sinfulness and its dan- 
gers. He was persistent. He still attended the 
meetings, was very attentive, and even serious. 
The proposed discussion of the philosophy of a 
revival was dropped in the ,club. Our meeting 
closed. Over one hundred registered their names 
as having come over on the Lord's side. But my 
friend Alderman Berlin s name was not there! * * 
As the last snows of winter were leaving the hillsides 
and hollows, and I had returned to my home, a 
messenger drove up to my door with a livery team 
smoking with swift driving and said, "Alderman 
Berlin is dying, and wishes you to hasten to his bed- 
side." I sprang into the carriage and went with 
him. When I arrived I found the room full of 
doctors and nurses and friends, and Mr. Berlin 
lying across the bed vomiting and purging inces- 
santly, his eyes bloodshot and protruding from their 
sockets and inexpressible agony in his countenance! 
Oh, the look he gave me as I entered and took 
his trembling hand! He would have spoken but 
the vomiting prevented. I did not say one word 
and only looked upward as if to say, "Look to God 
my friend, for none can help you now but him." 
And then I went back to the window and leaning 
my brow upon the sash, silently prayed for my 



220 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

dying neighbor. Soon after his understanding 
failed him, and before twelve o'clock that night 
the body was dead and the spirit had returned to 
God who gave it! Where now were those friendly 
conferences on the great matter of personal religion 
he had planned to take place in the early summer, 
in the groves around his rural home? And what 
had become of those arrogant hopes? His family 
and friends wished me to preach his funeral ser- 
mon, and I did so. But it was a sad service, 
relieved only by the hope that on his dying bed, 
like the dying Israelite bitten by the serpent in the 
wilderness, he had looked to the cross and Him 
that hung thereon and been forgiven! And Felix 
said unto Paul, "Go thy way for this time. When 
I have a convenient season I will call for thee." 

THE BOW DRAWN AT VENTURE. 

Another incident more pleasant in its final 
result occurred during the progress of a meeting I 
held in Bluffton. In that revival nearly all the 
people in that vicinity were either converted or 
greatly moved. I visited in the daytime and 
preached in the evening. I was quite successful in 
visiting from house to house ; but especially so in 
talking with the skeptically inclined. Somehow 
it became a current saying that in talking with Mr. 
Bristol it would not do for an infidel to admit any- 
thing ; if he did, no matter what it was, Mr. Bristol 
would begin at that admission, and by inexorable 
logic compel the man to admit all the great truths 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 221 

of religion. In the course of a day's visiting, I 
called upon a family where the husband and wife 
had agreed that they would admit nothing. Mr. 
Bristol should not catch them. They received me 
with cold and formal politeness, and then squared 
off for resistance. After a few commonplace 
remarks, I observed that we were having some 
very interesting meetings. "They say so" was the 
reply. "Don't you believe it would be a great 
blessing in this community, if we should all from 
this time, begin to love the Lord with all our heart, 
and our neighbor as ourselves?" "Well, there are 
different opinions about this. We don't know." 
"You believe the Bible, don't you?" "Well, some 
times we think it may be true, and sometimes not. 
Many learned men don't believe it at all, and some 
do. We don't know who is right." "You believe 
there is a God, do you not, who made you, and 
all things so wondrously?" "Don't know what to 
think, when wiser people than we regard it as an 
unsettled question, whether these things came of 
themselves, or whether there was a God who made 
them — don't know! Half the world reject your 
God and believe in other Gods, and of the rest, 
many believe in no God at all. Who knows which 
is right?" "You believe that you exist, and that 
these two boys of yours are real beings, do you not?" 
"Well, maybe we exist, and maybe not; it is all 
guesswork after all!" By this time 1 saw clearly 
their intent to admit nothing, and not wishing to 
have my visit end thus, I remarked to the man, 

1 



222 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

"You and I must be of about the same age." "What 
is your age?" he asked, and when I gave it he said, 
"I too was born in the same year. Was your 
father a minister?" he asked. "No, he was not 
even a professor, was your father?" "Yes," said he, 
"he was a Methodist presiding elder." I bade 
them pleasantly a good-afternoon, and went on my 
way with the prayer in my heart, that on some 
future occasion I might be more successful. When 
I was out of hearing the man remarked to his wife, 
"There, he did not catch us, did he?" She gave a 
cold and reluctant assent and sat pensive, looking 
out of the window, as if she felt that they had small 
cause for congratulation over a victory obtained 
at the expense of denying the Bible, the being of 
God and their own existence too, and that of their 
dear boys also! Had it come to this! And all to 
get rid of conversion, of Christ, and of Heaven! 
For a few moments they sat in silence and then the 
man went out to the barn, and thus he mused as 
he went : "That man and I are of the same age 
substantially, but what a difference there is between 
us! He is a Christian, a preacher of the Gospel, 
and the blessings of many ready to perish is coming 
upon him! But I — what have I done ; not yet 
given my heart to God. Not one soul was ever 
led to Christ by me. Many have been kept away! 
No doubt my wife had long since been converted 
but 1 stood in the way. Even now I can see her 
heart is yearning after the pearl of great price. 
And those dear boys are held back from salvation 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 223 

by their father's words and example. My father 
has prayed much for me and so have many others, 
but I have resisted them all, and to-day when the 
man of God called to win me to the Lord he loves, 
I braced myself against him and denied truths 
plainer than the sun in the heavens! I made myself 
a fool in his eyes and in mine own too! / lied to 
him! Yes, that is the word, I lied! He knew it, 
and God knew it, and I knew it also!" When he 
reached the stable the horses turned and looked 
wildly at him as if they feared the coming of a 
man so wicked! He tried to pray but could not 
say a word; his mouth was shut, the heavens were 
brass, as if God had risen up and shut the door 
and said, "Not one word from yon!" He staggered 
back to the house and said, "Wife, get ready, you 
and the children. 1 am going to meeting to-night." 
And when I reached the schoolhouse where our 
meetings were held, there they were, husband, wife 
and their boys, all sitting on the lowest seat before 
the desk, all with faces covered with handkerchiefs, 
sobbing and waiting for some one to come to pray 
for them, whose words God would hear. Before 
the close of that evening's meeting they were 
rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. At a sub- 
sequent experience meeting they told the story as 
I have rehearsed it. "And a certain man drew a 
bow at venture and it smote the king between the 
joints of the harness." "In the morning sow thy 
seed and in the evening withhold not thy hand 
for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether 



224 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

this or that, or whether they both shall be alike 
good." 

ATTEMPT TO BREAK L T P A MEETING UNSUCCESSFUL. 

The best of order always attended my preach- 
ing; save only in one case was ever an attempt 
at disturbance made. A scandalous affair trans- 
pired near one of my places of preaching in Green 
Lake township. It had long and odious ventila- 
tion in the courts, and finally the unfortunate 
young woman in the affair, the victim of outra- 
geous perfidy and treachery, was defeated, through 
the perjuries and combination of a large number 
of young roughs who abounded in that vicinity. 
The rascals escaped and gloried in their shame. 
About that time I preached a sermon there on the 
text, tl Their feet shall slide in due time /" 

I did not know that the principal perpetrator 
was there. Indeed, I did not know him. But he 
said and others, too, that in the warmth of my denun- 
ciation of such crimes as his, I turned toward 
him, shook my finger in his face and poured vials 
of wrath upon him without measure. That I said 
in effect, " Take care, young man ! Your day is 
coming ! It is nothing that an earthly court has 
acquitted you ! Justice is on your track, and will 
take you to another court ! There, there is no 
quibbling. 

" Not a fact can be withheld. No false tes- 
timony will be heard. The pit will open before 
you and 'Your feet will slide in due time ! ' " 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 22$ 

It did not even occur to me that he was there, 
or that I had offended any one. It was an imagi- 
nary young man I had in mind. The next time I 
went to preach there, I saw an immense crowd 
gathered about the house, horses and teams 
three or four times the usual number hitched to 
the trees and fences. Some influential and noted 
person must have died ! Who could it be? This 
is a funeral gathering ! What shall I preach ? 
Slowly I drove up, gathering my thoughts about 
a funeral discourse. Hitching my horse several 
men came out to me, and told me the cause of the 
gathering, said the excitement was great, the 
roughs had taken possession of the house ; that 
it was not safe for me to go in, etc. I smiled and 
said, If that was all, I would go in. And so I 
went in, followed by my friends and all who could 
find standing room there. 

Omitting singing — a few words of prayer — I 
commenced my discourse, standing on the front 
edge of the platform, almost within reach of the fore- 
most of the roughs. I don't think I looked or spoke 
as if I was much afraid of them. For some five min- 
utes they were restive and then one blurted out, 

"That's a d d lie !" I paused, looked at him in the 

eye till he turned this way and that uneasily. Then 
I repeated the remark and went on a little and then 
another said, " That is a lie." I now said in strong 
voice, " It is evident there are persons here who 
have come to break up this meeting ! To prevent 
us from worshiping God, according to the dictates 

15 



226 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

of our judgment and conscience. And I propose 
to stop right here and settle the question once for 
all — whether law and order reigns in this part of 
Green Lake, or whether a mob rules us. I am 
about to put the matter to vote, and I want you 
all to stand by your colors like men and women 
too. The law of the land, the law we have all 
pledged ourselves to support, guarantees to us the 
right of religious worship, and denounces punish- 
ments against those who disturb such worship. 
Do you think these laws good laws? Do you 
mean to defend them ? Will you allow a few 
roughs to trample on them here, and on you all ? 
If I mistake not, you will not. 

"I now ask all in this house, who do not believe in 
the right of religious worship guaranteed by the 
laws of Wisconsin and who mean to-day to trample 
them under foot, to raise their hands ! " Three or 
four hands were raised, but quickly taken down. 
"Hold them up, young men," I said. "Don't take 
them down so quick. I want to show you to the 
people. They want to know who you are. 

"Only three or four that sustain these disturb- 
ances of our meeting ? If there is one more, lift 
your hand ! For three or four is a contemptible 
minority in such a crowd as this !" No more hands 
being raised, I said, "Now I am going to call for 
the vote on the other side. 

"Those who believe in the right of undisturbed 
religious worship, and in these State laws referred 
to, and are determined to maintain them, peaceably, 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 227 

if they can, and forcibly, if they must, will now 
rise to your feet and those standing lift your 
hands !" And at that the whole congregation rose, 
save only the three, and those standing, raised high 
their hands ! 

After the vote was taken, I admonished these 
young men to show a decent respect for that vote. 
I then recommenced my discourse, and went 
through without interruption. 

My meetings there were never after disturbed. 
Going home that evening, three of these young 
men went before me and made a fence across the 
road ! I saw the obstruction and them some twenty 
rods distant, aad walked my horse slowly as I 
approached it. Seeing a low spot I drove over it 
and the wheels knocked down the rails and I 
passed on. Two stood on one side and one on the 
other, but they did not venture to attack me. I 
had one hand in an overcoat pocket, and possibly 
they thought it had hold of something there ! 

NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING. 

Having an evening appointment across Green 
Lake, in the spring of the year, I attempted to 
cross over on the ice. Borrowing a pair of skates 
I endeavored to go straight across. Reaching the 
middle of the lake, I found a crack and open 
water some ten feet wide, extending nearly the 
whole length of the lake. I was obliged to go 
down to the inlet some three miles distant to get 
round it. This made me late. It began to grow 



228 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

dark as I went up near the south shore. I passed 
several air-holes, and fearing I should fall into one 
as I skated in the dark, I picked up a fish pole 
lying upon the ice and ran it forward of me. I 
was skating rapidly when suddenly my pole 
dropped off the ice into the water, and I whirled 
upon my skates and made for shore, and walked 
the rest of the way. 

The next morning returning, I went to the 
place where the pole slipped from my hand and 
went down, and lo, the scratch of my skate with- 
in perhaps five inches of the slippery edge ! Had 
I plunged in, I should probably have come up under 
the ice! and had I not, it would have been difficult 
to have got out with skates on, and had I suc- 
ceeded in this latter, with my wet clothes on, I 
should probably have been frozen to death before 
I could have reached the nearest house, as it was 
bitterly cold that night. This instance of immi- 
nent peril does not stand alone in the history of my 
life. Twenty others or more, of like perils have 
been safely passed through. Yet I have never 
had a bone broken, or a limb disjointed. 

" The Angel of the Lord encampeth round 
them that fear him, and delivereth them." 

Living on the borders of Green Lake, one of 
the most beautiful sheets of water in Wisconsin, 
I had occasional visits from work-worn ministers, 
in need of a vacation, and whose slender salaries 
did not admit of travel or a resort to expensive 
watering places. Those visits and the privilege 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 229 

of hospitality I greatly enjoyed. Was it not 
a gentle way of ministering to the disciples of the 
Lord ? But there was one drawback. 

Staying with me over the Sabbath, they would 
naturally expect me to invite them to preach for 
me. They would consent though weary, lest they 
should seem ungrateful for the hospitality. On 
the other hand, I always had a sermon in mind, 
which I longed to preach to my people. " And 
the word of the Lord was as fire shut up in my 
bones." It was a great relief to preach these mes- 
sages as I received them. Perhaps this resulted 
from having nearly all the time a state of revival 
in some one of my fields, inquiring souls to be led 
to Christ, and lambs of the flock to be fed and 
nourished. Under these circumstances, I had 
often to apologize for a seeming want of politeness 
in not inviting them to preach. 

On one occasion a city pastor spent a Sabbath 
with me. Learning the condition of my people, 
he positively refused to preach, but went the Sab- 
bath-day rounds with me. He was struck with 
the solemn attention given, and the teardrops 
which ran down many a cheek. When I went 
down from the pulpit they gathered around me 
and told of the struggles of so and so, the new 
hopes of another, the conviction of a third, etc., etc. 
Such a one wished to be prayed for. 

Then we hastened on ten miles to the second 
service. Then five miles further to a five o'clock 
appointment in a large schoolhouse in a grove. 



230 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Farm wagons were all around, and teams tied to 
the trees. The house was full and we had scarce 
room to sit down, for the platform and aisles were 
filled. I presume we looked tired, and so the 
whole audience broke forth in song-singing: 

" There is rest for the weary, 
There is rest for the weary, 
On the other side of Jordan, 
In the sweet fields of Eden, 
There is rest for the weary, 
There is rest for you." 

This spontaneous exhibition of Christian sym- 
pathy greatly affected my visitor, and he wept. 
I was used to it. The country minister gets very 
close to the hearts of his people ; no convention- 
alities hold him off at a distance. 

On our way home my city brother seemed sad, 
and said little. I asked the cause. He replied, "I 
have been thinking of the poor pay I get for preach- 
ing." 

Why, said I, I thought you had a fine salary, of 
— hundred dollars and promptly paid ! " Ah, yes," 
he said "in money ! But, brother, money never can 
pay for the heart work of preaching. Nothing pays 
for that but such pay as I have seen you receive 
to-day. We must have 'souls for our hire, or we 
get nothing ! ' " 

Never after that did I repine because my salary 
was small, or envy the large stipend of the city 
minister, while the joy of seeing souls converted 
was mine, and though poor I seemed to be making 



PIONEER LABORS IN WISCONSIN. 23 1 

many rich. To the young man about to enter the 
ministry, and choose his field, I commend this 
remark of the city clergyman, that nothing pays 
for preaching the gospel but salvation and life 
attending the Word. 

The labors in the midst of which these 
scenes transpired stretched over a period of ten 
years or thereabouts. They cover the prime of 
my life. Unnoted and unknown it was to the 
general public. But souls were there, and their Re- 
deemer, too! Not large were my audiences, but we 
had audience with God. My salary was meager, 
but yet my bread was given and my water made 
sure, and the discipline of faith and patience there 
was beyond all price! And here again let me say 
to young men looking for fields of clerical labor — 
don't be afraid of frontier work — of going as Paul 
did, where Christ was not preached, or where, as the 
colored sage expressed it, "Der am little money and 
much Debil." Nor hesitate to sit down in a low 
place till another bid thee go up higher. I once 
heard President Mahan say, "I thank the Lord he 
will let me work anywhere." 

During these ten years twenty-one distinct revi- 
val meetings were held by me — where I did the 
preaching. In these from ten to 100 or more were 
hopefully born of the Spirit in each of them. 
While in California and praying for a restoration 
of nervous health and vigor, I often fixed upon 
ten years, and asked that God would give me that 
length of time for gospel work! Singularly, as 



232 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

this period became well nigh spent, the old brain 
trouble began to return in force. Sleep departed 
from me. Nervous action became spasmodic and 
unreliable. The long winter campaign through 
which I wrought in season and out of season — not 
counting my life dear to myself — had at last 
broken down sadly the mental machinery. 

Some change must be resorted to. A call com- 
ing from Elmwood, 111., I went down there and 
preached a couple of years. Each winter we had a 
revival in our church, and one of the winters I aided 
Bro. J.M.Williams — my old classmate — in a revival 
of marked power in his church in Farmington, 111. 
But I was scarcely myself there. The troubles of 
nerve and brain were constant and increasing, and 
called for a halt. So I resigned and went back to 
Wisconsin, and to my old home. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 

A few months of rest at Dartford did me little 
good. I suffered from sick headache about one- 
third of the time, and the average of sleep was not 
more than one night in three. I needed not only 
physical exercise but change — something to get the 
mind out of the old ruts, the grooves it had worn 
so deep. Then came the happy thought of a trip 
across the plains, with covered wagon drawn by 
oxen or horses, and plodding along for six months, 
with little opportunity for reading books or men- 
tal exercise, and an abundance of calls for muscu- 
lar employment. Very opportune for my plans 
was the discovery of the " Salmon River mines." 
Quite a nnmber of neighbors were eager to form 
a company and go together over the plains. Some 
time in March, I think it was, that three four-horse 
wagons, covered with white canvas, filed through 
the streets of Ripon, each having a complement of 
four men, all well known and substantial citizens, 
and bound for the Pacific coast. A large crowd 
gathered around us to bid us good-bye and pour 
upon us showers of good wishes and hopes of suc- 
cess and a safe return. Some one of the crowd 
wrote in large letters on the wagon 1 was in, 

(233) 



234 ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 

" Capt. Bristol's Train." I don't know who it was, 
but our good-natured company of twelve accepted 
the suggestion, and so called me Captain after that. 
My messmates were Deacon Bainan, McKinnon, 
and Principal Walcott, the latter long time the 
head of the Ripon Academy and embryo college. 
Our course from Ripon to the great midland 
plains was via Madison, Galena, Des Moines and 
Omaha. 

At Council Bluffs we laid in our supplies for a 
journey of two thousand miles, and which was to 
occupy the following six months and more. From 
Omaha we proceeded up the Platte River, on the 
north side. Several other emigrant teams falling 
in with us we organized a company. I was unani- 
mously chosen Captain. I did not relish the office, 
on account of its care and responsibility, for I 
wanted rest and freedom from care ; but I accept- 
ed, 'chiefly because it would enable me to secure 
the keeping of the Sabbath. 

Encamping on the Loup Fork one evening we 
heard a din of doleful voices, proceeding from the 
tepees, or tents of buffalo hides, occupied by a 
band of Pawnees near by. Our sympathies were 
excited, and a man and I went over to see what 
was the matter. Some of them could talk English, 
and they told us with artless simplicity, how that 
some weeks before they heard that a band of adja- 
cent Sioux Indians had gone on a buffalo hunt, 
leaving large numbers of ponies, their wives and 
children, in a defenceless condition. This was too 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 235 

good an opportunity to rob and to kill to be neg- 
lected ; so a band of their young braves, like young 
eagles, made haste for the prey. Alas for Indian 
sagacity and rapacity in this case ! The young 
Pawnees met the Sioux on the border, were de- 
feated, some of them slam, and the remainder put 
to ignominious flight ! Hence these tears, these 
ululations which had aroused our pity. My com- 
panion and I went back to our camp much less in- 
clined to weep than when on our way to visit them. 
Years afterward — some eight or ten — when Miss 
" Bright Eyes," the Pawnee Indian girl, was mov- 
ing Boston audiences by her tales of wrongs done 
by white people to long-suffering Pawnees and 
other Indian tribes, this scene came up very vivid- 
ly before me. 

FROM FORT LARAMIE TO FORT HALL. 

Arrived at Fort Laramie I resigned my cap- 
taincy and another was chosen ; but after two days 
of service my successor resigned and I was re-elect- 
ed. Leaving the Platte, we went up the Sweet- 
water. On our way we were met by fugitives 
fleeing toward the settlements from Indian raids 
all along the overland stage route. They had 
stopped the stages, killed passengers and drivers, 
robbed and burned the stations, and had driven off 
the relays of horses and mules. We met soldiers 
rushing away in fear, and their officers command- 
ed us to retreat also. We heard their stories and 
went on. One day we came up with a fine-looking 



2$6 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

train, whose animals, like ours, were nearly all 
horses or mules, and which traveled at about the 
same gait. We camped together that night beside 
a small lake. There was a proposition to join 
forces. The captains of both trains resigned, and 
the companies resolved to become one train and to 
choose a captain. I was again re-elected, almost 
Unanimously. I made them a brief address in 
which I outlined my policy as to guarding stock, 
compactness in traveling, defense of the corral, 
settlements of quarrels, treatment of friendly In- 
dians, and keeping the Sabbath. It apparently 
gave good satisfaction, and if any hesitated in as- 
senting to the new regime, they were quite won 
over the next day, when they saw me take a horse, 
about mid-afternoon, and riding ahead out of sight, 
select a fine camp, where was water and grass, and 
a good place for defence. 

This was my usual custom, and I generally 
went alone. The danger was often great, and I 
feared to send another, who might not be as good 
a shot as myself, or as quick to discover danger 
and avoid it. My company used to congratulate 
themselves on the excellent camps I selected. 
These were in striking contrast with those of other 
trains, which often tied up to the sage bushes, with 
no water or grass for the stock, their captains, none 
of them, daring to take the risks I ran daily. One 
evening, not twenty rods from our camp, I found 
a fresh dug grave ! A rough board at its head in- 
formed us that there the Indians had attacked 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 237 

their train, killed several, and that two women and 
their children had been captured and carried off ! 
This sad writing was dated the day before / Our 
men rested uneasily that night. Few of us slept. 
We were thinking of the sad fate of those wives and 
children ! 

The Fourth of July we were at Fort Bridger, 
near the source of the Sweetwater. Our boys 
celebrated the day by throwing snowballs at each 
other from a bank of snow on the slope. I called 
on Capt. Bridger, the first officer of the Fort, and 
consulted him about our route to Fort Hall. At 
first he said, " Don't go ; the Indians are bad." 
Seeing I was bent on going, he asked, " How many 
men have you ?" I replied, " Sixty or seventy." 
Eyeing me sharply, he asked with emphasis, 
V How many MEN have you?" I saw his meaning 
and replied, " I think some twenty-five or thirty 
will fight to the death." " Well," said he, " if you 
are correct you can go through." Taking down 
his maps and charts he traced out our course to 
the " Lauder's Cut-off" trail, and thence to Fort 
Hall, adding, as he pointed to this place and that 
on the route, " Take care there ! I had a battle at 
that place and lost so many, or killed so many ; 
and there 1 was waylaid and attacked by so many 
hostiles." The old Indian warrior was delighted 
to see men of pluck. 

THE SOUTH PASS. 

Following up the Sweetwater to its sources 
we entered the celebrated South Pass, the gateway 



238 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

through the Rock)^ Mountains. We had been 
looking forward to this pass, and our journey 
through it, as an event in travel never to be forgot- 
ten. Well, we entered it, and were nearly through 
it before any of us were aware of it ! True it was, 
the streams we crossed no more flowed eastward, 
but west ; but the significance of that fact had not 
been appreciated, and we little knew that we were 
passing into a new order of things. The Sweet- 
water we had just left we were to see no more 1 
Its waters would flow into the Platte, the Platte 
into the Missouri, the Missouri into the Mississippi, 
the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, and that into 
the Atlantic Ocean ! On the other hand, these west- 
ward-flowing brooks would flow into Green River, 
Green River into the Colorado, the Colorado into 
the Gulf of California, and that into the Pacific ! 
How near their beginnings ; how wide apart their 
destination ! The South Pass, instead of being a 
narrow gateway between lofty cliffs, crowding upon 
us from either side, was a plain wide enough for vast 
armies to pass through — a highway for nations, I 
judge it to be, from ten to twenty miles wide ; and 
but for some one to tell them, not one in ten of our 
company would have dreamed of the passage till it 
was over! Even so do most of our race pass 
through the great moral crises of life, which de- 
termine their everlasting future, quite unaware of 
it at the time ! 

Descending gradually westward, we came 
down upon the east branch of Green River. It 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 239 

was about the 12th of July, and this river over- 
flowed all its banks. It was, where we struck it, 
from twenty-five to fifty rods wide. It was too 
deep to be forded ; the current was swift, and the 
waters very cold. All around us were snowclad 
peaks, and we passed over drifts in valleys perhaps 
twenty feet deep. How should we cross this river? 
Our plan was quickly formed and executed too. 
I selected a committee of experts, examined all our 
wagon-beds, selected two of the tightest and best 
made, took them off the axles, caulked them as 
tight as possible, and otherwise made them fit for 
boating, and put them into the water. The next 
morning they were soaked tight. We crossed the 
river with the earliest light, and the landing place 
was selected. A wagon was taken in pieces and 
put in one boat, and its baggage put in the other, 
and rowed over. Men were there to put it up by 
the time another could cross ; and so it came to 
pass that nearly forty wagons were taken over 
that day. The horses were forced into the cold 
river and obliged to swim over. The next day we 
were on our way. At the second branch we found 
a ferry boat. I bought it, took my train over, and 
sold it for five dollars less to the train behind. 

AN EFFORT TO BREAK UP OUR SABBATH-KEEPING 
CUSTOM. 

There was a man from Iowa, a Dr. Jones, who 
had fallen into our company on the way, who dis- 
liked Sabbath keeping and all religion. He was a 



240 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

restless, nervous, Democratic politician of the 
Vallandigham stripe, opposed to Lincoln, to aboli- 
tion and the war, and was intensely dissatisfied 
with the Republicans of Iowa. The reason for 
leaving his own train and joining ours was, I be- 
lieve, the better time we were making, the better 
camps, and better discipline and order maintained. 
Soon after joining us he began to vent his spleen 
against the Abolitionists and the " Puritan captain ;" 
but he made no sensible progress till we reached 
the third fork of Green River. Coming to it 
Saturday night, we camped there for the Sabbath. 
Mosquitoes swarmed in all the air, and we all suf- 
fered more or less from them. This was a devil- 
send to him, and he improved it. From Sabbath 
morn till Sabbath noon he went from tent to tent, 
bearing a petition to the Captain to lift our tents 
and move out of this horrible place. By noon he 
had got a large majority of the names affixed to his 
petition and came bringing it to me. I called a 
meeting and all came together. Dr. Jones read 
his petition and made a speech, and closed by say- 
ing we had to go only six miles to get rid of the 
pests, and triumphantly introduced a man who had 
been over into a nook in the mountains six miles 
off, on our route, and he saw no mosquitoes there ! 

Of course I knew the main object was to get 
us to break the Sabbath that day, and then make it 
a precedent for Sabbath traveling ever after. I 
answered him saying I was ever ready to travel 
on the Sabbath when necessity required it. The 




A NIGHT WITH THREE ROBBERS (See page 168.) 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 24I 

mosquitoes were very bad, I knew, but there was 
no prospect of bettering our condition in that re- 
spect by going over yonder. I then turned to his 
witness and asked, " Are you not the man who 
about eight o'clock went up yonder hill with a 
rifle?" "Yes." " Did you not go along the skirts 
of yonder hills?" "Yes." "Well, sir, I was 
where I could see you till your return down yon- 
der divide. You never went over to the nook in the 
mountains the Doctor speaks off You did not go 
two miles from camp." "Well," said he, " I could 
look over there, and I did not see any !" " Could 
not see any ! That valley is six miles off; and did 
you suppose there were none because you could 
not see them four miles offf An outburst of laugh- 
ter followed. Dr. Jones called for a vote. As I 
was about to put it, some one said, " If we vote to 
roll out, I suppose you will go along with us, 
Captain?" "Oh, no," said I. "I don't go when 
the reason for this action is so transparent." 
There was a sensation, a rapid exchange of words, 
such as, " Then I wont go," and, " I wont," and, 
"That alters the case," when one said, "I move 
this matter be indefinitely postponed," and that 
vote was carried almost unanimously, and that was 
the last attempt to induce our train, like the others, 
to travel on the Lord's Day. 

SIX RETURNING MINERS KILLED. 

One evening we were met by eight miners re- 
turning homeward to the States. Each had two 



242 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

mules ; one he rode, the other carried his clothes, 
provisions, blankets, and perhaps his gold. We 
invited them to share the hospitalities of our camp. 
They staid with us over night and gave us much 
valuable information, as to our route and the 
mines. They were fine fellows. They left us 
early the next morning. As my train was about 
to start, I took my station as usual some distance 
ahead, holding the foremost back till the last wag- 
on was in line, for I never allowed my train to 
stretch out in unreasonable length. Hence no strag- 
lers were captured from our train. While wait- 
ing and looking over the adjacent hills, I dis- 
covered the upper half of an Indian's head looking 
down upon us. Looking steadily at it, it slowly 
sunk down like that of a partridge till it was out 
of sight. I knew what was up. So bidding the 
train move on, I stood still, gun in hand, and as 
each wagon passed me I called out one of its 
armed men and when the last went by, I had 
about forty at my side. The Indians finding they 
were discovered soon appeared on their ponies and 
rode back and forth on the hillside at the top of 
their speed. They made threatening gestures but 
were careful to keep out of reach of our rifle balls. 
They ransacked our camp ground for plunder, 
and the last we saw of them they were taking 
our back track, and making haste to overtake the 
eight miners who had left us half an hour before. 
We knew they would be overtaken, and probably 
all be slain ! 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 243 

And so it proved in the case of all but two, 
and they lost everything but life. Some half a 
dozen miles distant they were overtaken. Seeing 
some thirty or forty Indians in hot pursuit, the 
miners dismounted and standing behind their 
animals fought like heroes for two or three hours, 
till six of the eight were killed, and I believe all 
their animals. One of them, a Mr. Parmelee from 
Illinois, when dying said to his comrade, "Tom, 
I am dying. Load my rifle for me, and level it 
across my dead mule. Then run and save your- 
self. May be the Indians will rush up for booty, 
and I can kill one more of these robbers before I 
die ! " Tom did so, and as he was running through 
the sage brush, he heard the crack of the well 
known rifle and looking back he saw consternation 
among the Indians, and concluded Parmelee had 
been as good as his word. 

While this unequal battle was going on, there 
came upon the scene a train of from thirty to fifty 
men. They rushed to the top of a hill near by, 
corraled, and looked on and never lifted a finger 
to help the beleaguered miners ! " A sally of half 
a dozen of them," said Johnson, one of the escaped 
men to me, "would have saved most of us." What a 
crime it is sometimes to yield to coward fear ! 
"And the fearful," etc., "shall have their part in the 
lake of fire, etc." I will add, that no sooner was 
this disgraceful cowardice known abroad than the 
burst of indignation was such all along the line, 
that the said train broke up and its members made 
haste to hide themselves in other trains. 



244 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

A STAMPEDE. 

Just before reaching Fort Hall, we overtook a 
train and camped near by it. It was Saturday 
evening and I invited them to stay with us over 
Sabbath and attend the preaching service, which 
I held in our corral every Sabbath. They partly 
agreed to do so. But when the morning came, 
they moved on as usual. They had not proceeded 
far, before an unaccountable panic seized upon 
nearly every animal in the train. It was the noted 
" stampede" so often spoken of by travelers in con- 
nection with migrations across the Western plains. 
To describe one, is to describe all. 

That Sabbath morning was one of unusual 
quiet. Scarce a leaf was disturbed by the breeze. 
The path skirted along the border of a marsh, in 
the center of which was a shallow lake. The 
teams were mainly made up of several yoke of 
oxen and cows. They were nearly all lame and 
footsore and lean too, from incessant travel over 
a thousand miles of desert. Tired out and stupid, 
they little cared for the crack of the resounding 
bull-whip, or the sharp goad carried by some of 
the drivers; mechanically they moved on with slow 
and measured step, as if all sensibility and life had 
departed from them ! 

In an instant all this was changed ! An uncon- 
trollable frenzy had seized every animal in the 
train. His dull eye now glared like afire ball and 
protruded from its socket ! With a moan which 
ran over all the notes, and lugubrious and startling 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 245 

beyond description, the poor creatures leaped 
into the air, and rushed headlong and reckless to 
right or left against trees or rocks. In some cases 
the leaders vaulted into covered wagons filled 
with women and children, and others became 
hopelessly wedged together. And the din of 
crushing wagons, the looing of the frantic beasts, 
the shrieks of women and children, the crack of 
the whip, and the oaths of the excited drivers con- 
bined to create a scene wild beyond description. 
In this case, in addition to the wounded, one 
woman and a child were killed outright, and we 
passed their fresh dug graves on Monday morn- 
ing. The cause of the stampede, who can tell ! 
It reminds the looker-on of a scene described in the 
New Testament, which occurred in Gadara, where 
"the devils entering the herd of swine, threw 
them headlong down the steep and they perished 
in the waters." But I take it, that at first the 
smell of blood, or something like it, excites one 
animal to utter his startling moan. This excites 
all the rest, and they moan also, and the bedlam 
of these wild bellowings does all the rest, for it is 
enough to waken the dead and kill the living. 

FORT HALL AND CROSSING THE PORTENEUF. 

At length we reached Fort Hall, which is no 
fort, and never was, in any American sense. It 
used to be a French or English trading post 
simply. Here we first came upon the Snake 
River, the great southern fork of the Columbia. A 



246 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

dozen miles west of it the trail crosses a deep but 
sluggish stream called the Porteneuf. There was 
no way of crossing except by a small ferry 
boat. Between this ferry and Fort Hall lay 
scattered along the trail perhaps a dozen trains, 
waiting their turn to be ferried across. None of 
them lifted a finger to help the wornout ferry- 
men who had been working night and day for 
weeks, but lounged about, played ball or cards, 
drank whiskey, etc. I rode forward to the ferry- 
man to learn when we could cross over. He was 
cross as a bear and hardly gave me a civil answer. 
" Somewhere from a week to ten days," was all 
I could get out of him. Seeing how it was, I 
resolved on a little strategy. Riding back I ordered 
the train to hitch up and follow me. Passing one 
camp after another each called out, " No use in 
going ahead, you can't cross till we do. We are 
booked before you ! " 

But we went on till we reached the river and 
camped hard by the ferry. The horses put to 
pasture, I took half a dozen of my most robust 
and willing men and we went down to the ferry. 
We watched the ways of managing the boat, 
the putting on and off freight, wagons and horses, 
and when we thought we " knew the ropes," I 
stepped aboard and said, " Captain ! take a rest, you 
and your men ; let us try our hand a turn. Give 
your orders, Captain, and we will do the work." 
They lay down, poor wearied men, and we went 
at the work with a will. How the boat spun 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 247 

through the water. How quickly the wagons 
were trundled on board, and the quick trips made 
them stare ! The captain's rigid face began to 
relax. He inquired what was the name of my 
train and when told, asked, "And is that the 
abolition train so much spoken against ? " I said 
" Very likely. We are all free men ourselves and we 
like to see others free, too." " I see ! I see ! " said 
he with a smile. Taking me aside he whispered, 
" Get your train down here and this afternoon we 
will put you over." I did so, and before dark, 
my whole train was over and ready to start out 
the next morning. " That is the finest company of 
men and horses/' said the captain, " which has 
crossed the river this season," and when I asked 
him to count our wagons he refused and left it all 
to me. Thus by this manceuver we saved a week's 
delay at least. There is nothing lost, in the long 
run, by being generous and helpful to men in need, 
even if they are strangers and we never expect to 
meet them again. 

DOWN THE SNAKE RIVER. 

The Snake River is tortuous as a snake's path 
in its course, and hence its name. It runs through 
a vast sage brush plain so destitute of forage and 
trees that scarce a Jack rabbit can find pasture 
and where a sage hen is rarely seen. In journey- 
ing down it on the south and west side we could 
only find feed for our hungry animals once in 
fifteen or twenty miles, when we came to small 



248 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

creeks on their way to the river. No buffalo or 
wild horses are found here. Now and then a deer 
or antelope is seen and half-starved wolves in hot 
pursuit. At one of these creeks our train and 
another spent a couple of da) r s. I went some 
distance down the brook, fishing for trout. A one- 
armed man not of my company went along, too, 
and went farther than I did. That night he did 
not come back ! The next day his brother and 
some others went after him. They found his 
tracks and those of Indians, too, and saw where 
they had captured him and led him to the Snake 
River, where they crossed over, and they had to 
give him up ! Poor one armed traveler over the 
plains! He was never heard of afterward. " The 
Indian knows his resting place ! " 

A SWARM OF WINGED ANTS. 

Not far from this stream, Goose Creek, we 
encountered a great cloud of winged ants. Several 
of us were on horseback just ahead of the train, 
when we saw beyond us, and stretching across 
our path, what seemed a layer of mist or a foggy 
wreath. It was perhaps forty rods long, thirty 
feet in height, and perhaps ten rods through. 
What could it be ? Was it dust or fog or smoke ? 
While we were philosophizing we came against 
it, or it struck us, and then we knew. It was 
a cloud of flying ants. As they swept against 
us the whole train stopped. The horses snorted, 
thrust their noses down between their knees to 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 249 

brush them from their nostrils. Hundreds dashed 
against my face at a time. We could not open an 
eye nor see an inch before us. The air was hot 
and sickening. We plied our whips and spurs to 
our crazy horses, and holding our breath dashed 
headlong forward some ten or twelve rods, when 
we were through them. Had that swarm been a 
quarter of a mile thick, I suspect nearly every 
man and horse would have died. To say nothing 
about their picking our bones, we could not have 
endured that hot and intensely ant-scented air. The 
heat, I supposed, was from their breath and the 
warmth of their bodies. Whether such swarms of 
flying ants are common in this part of the plain I 
know not. I think I once read an account of 
something like this, just where, I cannot at this 
moment call to mind. But it made me think of 
the swarms of flies which filled all the air of 
Egypt, and appreciate the plague as never before. 

A CASE OF DISCIPLINE. 

"The course of true love does not always run 
smooth." This was illustrated in my train one 
morning near this time. It shows also the stern 
decision the chief officer of a train is sometimes 
obliged to exercise. As we were about to break 
camp one morning two men came to me with the 
complaint that their partner had refused to hitch 
his horses to the wagon, was packing his own 
baggage upon them, and about to leave his part- 
ners behind. I went at once and personally ar- 



250 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

rested him as he was about to proceed. He was 
mad and drew a revolver, but I had mine and de- 
manded an explanation. From the testimony it 
came out that the three men were from Beaver 
Dam, Wis. That there they had agreed to go 
to the mines together. One was to furnish the 
wagon, another the supplies, and the third the 
team. Up to this time each had fulfilled his part, 
but here our man of the horses broke his engage- 
ment, and swore he would leave the wagon and 
proceed with his horses. I reasoned with him; 
showed him that as a man he should stand by his 
engagement. To break it here meant the death of 
his two partners, unless others were more merci- 
ful than he. And finally I told him I was bound 
to see to it that the contracts made at home, so 
vital now, should be carried out here! He said I 
had no legal authority over him, and that he 
should do as he had a mind to. I said, "We shall 
see ! Unpack your horses at once and hitch them 
to the wagon !" He raised his revolver and dared 
any one to lay a hand on his horses. I ordered 
every man to draw his weapon and sixty revolvers 
came forth quick. "Now stand away from him !" 
The clicking of revolvers being cocked, made one's 
hair stand on end. "Who will lay a hand on my 
horses?" said he. "I will," I replied, "if no one else 
will. Stop your threatening and unpack your 
horses. I give you just five minutes to decide 
whether you will do it. Every man level his pis- 
tol upon him, and if he raises his weapon fire on 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 25 I 

him !" Instantly he was covered by some sixty 
pistols. "Can I speak to Mr. So and So ?" he asked. 
"Yes, but do your talking quick ; this train is not 
going to be stopped very long by such conduct as 
this." The man went to him. In a whisper he 
asked: "Do you suppose they will shoot me if I 
resist?" The reply was: "Yes, they will put sixty 
balls through you! They will do it sure." These 
were several too many, and he threw down his 
weapon in disgust upon the ground and unpacked 
his horses, and we helped him put them into the 
wagon. I left him with the remark, "See to it 
that this foolishness is not repeated again in this 
train !" Some days after while walking with him 
alone, he used some such language as this: 
"Captain, in general, I think I am an average 
man, but every now and then the devil gets into 
me and I am the biggest fool out. That is just what 
I was the other day. Now I want to ask you, as 
a favor, to take my money when I am in the 
mines, as fast as I get $50 and send it to my wife 
before I spend it in one of these fits of folly." 
Well, I partly agreed to do so, and from that time 
and for two years, we were warm friends. And 
when I returned some two years after I brought 
to Wisconsin $200, which I sent to his wife in 
Beaver Dam. 

An ounce of prompt and resolute decision is 
often worth a ton of vacillation and palaver. 

MASSACRE OF THE IOWA CITY TRAIN. 

As we proceeded down the river, a terrible 



252 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

massacre of a train from Iowa City was perpe- 
trated by these worse than Bedouin Arabs. When 
attacked they were five or six miles ahead 
of us. The train consisted of from twelve to 
twenty wagons, and was commanded by a Capt. 
Adams. He was, perhaps, the first one killed, the 
Indians coming upon either side and killing him 
almost instantly. His wagon arrested, the rest 
were obliged to stop and an attack was made 
on every wagon by some 200 hostiles. Many fled 
into the sage brush and escaped. Some fifteen 
were killed or wounded. The Indians took all the 
horses, from sixty to seventy, and robbed the 
wagons of all their valuables. Captain Kennedy's 
train coming up, drove the Indians away, and 
picked up the fugitives. The only horse saved 
was rescued from an Indian by one of my train 
named Hank Humphrey, a powerful man, who 
happened to be ahead and witnessed the attack. 
An Indian mounting a large iron-gray horse be- 
longing to the train had some difficulty in manag- 
ing him, when Hank seized the horse and dis- 
mounted the Indian, who ran away. 

Hank vaulted upon his back and at full speed 
hastened to inform our train, which he did in per- 
haps forty minutes. He also informed Captain 
Kennedy's train, as he flew past it, of what was go- 
ing on. 

In ten minutes my train was moving forward 
with all possible speed, and a company of sharp- 
shooters struck off to the left to cut off their re- 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 253 

treat to the mountains. But the Kennedy train 
really rescued them, and when we struck the 
Indians' trail they had passed and were beyond 
our reach. 

Coming back to the road just where the attack 
was made, our animals were so tired we could not 
proceed and had to stop right there, though there 
was little forage. We expected an attack thai 
night. I put the camp in order, and, with Ives, 
our famous hunter, stationed ourselves in a nest 
of rocks which commanded the ravine down 
which they were expected to come. We thought 
it quite likely we should be killed, but hoped so to 
demoralize them by vigorous defence of our castle 
as to save our train. But the long night passed, 
and no attack. 

The next morning was the Sabbath, and for 
once we hitched up and drove forward five miles 
to where there was grass and water, and where 
lay our dead and wounded fellow-travelers. We 
at once undertook our share of the work burying 
the dead, caring for the wounded, providing places 
for the fugitives in the trains, and furnishing them 
with provisions and clothing. 

About noon several of the horses of the robbed 
train were artfully led out upon a hillside in full 
view and appeared to be loose and feeding at leis- 
ure. Captain Kennedy came and proposed we 
should go out and drive them in. I objected, say- 
ing it was a ruse of the Indians to get us out there 
to shoot us from their ambuscades. That each 



254 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

horse, no doubt, had a lasso attached to his foot, 
and an Indian was crawling after him and when 
we came nigh would shoot us, then mount and run 
away. But Captain Kennedy would go, and told 
others Bristol was a coward. In an hour or two he 
sent to me saying he had fallen into an ambush, was 
badly wounded, and wished me to come to his 
rescue. I did so, but they fled at our approach. 
Captain Kennedy was brought off, but two of his 
men were left dead in the sage brush. I tried to 
find them but could not. 

Returning I found we had twenty-one on hand 
killed or wounded. Two of them were women. 
How hard it was for me to persuade the wives 
of the men left in the field not to insist on our 
going back to recover their bodies, as in that case 
we should probably lose more men. Captain Ken- 
nedy's wound was at first considered mortal, as it 
struck him in the abdomen and came out behind, 
near the backbone, and was supposed to have 
passed through the intestines. It afterward proved 
to have gone around in the muscles, and after a 
week or so he was able to be carried along. 

For various reasons his train had lost all confi- 
dence in their officers, and, on the other hand, had 
unwarranted confidence in our train. They pro- 
posed to disband and join us. I objected, as it 
would make a body too unwieldy. At their earn- 
est request we agreed to keep near them in our 
travel and camp by them for a time. This came 
from my going miles ahead of my train each after- 
noon to find it. 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 255 

Now and then a grumbler would criticise my 
camps and I had plenty of friends to inform me 
of it. But I took no notice of it till the next after- 
noon, when I would ride up to the complainer's 
wagon, and calling him out would say: "Here, 
take this horse and ride forward and select our 
camp to-night. I am tired and you must go. 
Be careful, select a good camp, you know our 
people are critical. Remember the essentials — 
good water, grass, wood, and a defensible camp. 
Now go ahead and don't let the grass grow under 
your horse's feet until you have found it." "No, 
captain, I cannot select one. Send some one else." 
"No, you must go. A man who can criticise a 
poor camp should be able to select a better one. 
Go ahead, you have no time to lose." Now it is not 
every fool who can select a good camp, especially 
where few or none are to be found. In nine cases 
out of ten our novice and fault finder made an ig- 
nominious blunder, and when I formed the corral 
and gave out the orders for the night, I usually 
added in such cases, "The train is indebted to Mr. 
So and So for the selection of this camp," and if a 
bad one he did not soon hear the last of it. I found 
this a potent method for suppressing unreasonable 
criticisms, and one application was sufficient. 
This was much better than an altercation, and my 
company loudly applauded my course. 

THE MIDNIGHT ATTACK AT ROCK CREEK. 

Still following down the left bank of the Snake 
River we came to Rock Creek. Going ahead of 



256 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

my train in search of a camp I observed in the 
trail fresh tracks of Indians, also making for Rock 
Creek. They were but a few hours ahead of us. 
I went cautiously forward till I came to it. It ran 
in a deep canyon. Finding a path down into it, I 
camped there. My suspicion of trouble at hand 
led me to look over the ground very carefully and 
determine what to do in case of an attack. When 
the time came to set the guards, I went to Ives, 
our famous hunter, and said: "Ives, I have a 
place for you to-night, I expect an attack before 
morning." "All right," he answered, and chose as 
his comrade for the night watch one John Henley, 
a young lawyer from Iowa City. I located them 
and returned to camp. 

About 12 o'clock as I lay half asleep, my ear 
on the ground, I was aroused by a faint cry for 
help coming up from the canyon. Springing to my 
feet I seized my gun and rushed out to the guards 
who patroled the corral, and demanded whence 
that cry? The guard had heard none. Being at 
the end of his beat, another guard came up; he, too, 
had heard no cry of distress. I was sure some- 
body was in trouble. While we talked another 
faint cry came up the trail. We hastened down. 
It was as dark as Egypt, and one of the guards 
stumbled over a prostrate body, and we turned 
and took up the body of Henley, the young law- 
yer, and bore it to camp. Limp it was and hung 
down heavily. The camp reached, the doctor was 
called and restoratives were applied. Henley came 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 257 

to consciousness and told us he had been wounded 
by an Indian arrow, and had come to tell us the 
Indians were after the stock. The great arrow 
was then apparently embedded in his breast. 

It had penetrated six or eight thicknesses of 
his Oregon blanket, his coat sleeve and the fleshy 
part of his forearm, had then gone through his 
coat, vest and underclothes, and was apparently 
deep in his chest. All these garments were 
pinned to his person by this arrow. The blood 
was slowly oozing out. Leaving him with the 
doctor, and expecting he would soon die, I aroused 
the whole camp, set it in order for a fight and 
called out my sage bush men and sharpshooters. 
Oh! how tardily they came, one by one. Repeated 
calls at the top of my voice scarcely hastened them. 
Every second was a minute to me ! I wanted to 
fly to the side of Ives. I could not wait, and left 
with half our number, leaving orders for the rest 
to follow. We crept stealthily along the bluff till 
near the place of attack. Here along the cliff 
overlooking Ives' position, I located the men, one 
here, one there, with orders to shoot any one with- 
out a hat. Wild Indians never wear hats. I my- 
self crept down the rocks near to where I had 
stationed Ives. I knew if he discovered me he 
would shoot me for an Indian, but I was so anxious 
for him I wanted to be near him in case of an 
attack. I had not long to wait; a bright flash of his 
gun burst upon the dark valley, the loud report rang 
and reverberated along the cliffs like a park of ar- 



258 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

tillery. Some twenty feet before him an Indian 
with half-drawn bow stood a second and then fell 
as the darkness closed in, and all was silence again. 
A few minutes and the dying warrior commenced 
striking out wildly with arms and legs; I could 
hear distinctly his motions and efforts to rise. By 
and by he began to roll over and then over again. 
After a time he reached the river bank, fell over, 
a loud splash, and then all was still again. 

All night we lay and watched the pass, and one 
there was I know who not only watched but 
prayed also. It is a very pretty thing to talk the 
soft words of non-resistance when no enemy is 
nigh, but in such an hour as this, it is not only 
sheer nonsense, but high treason to humanity and 
God. 

As the first rays of morning began to modify 
the darkness, I descried an Indian on horseback, 
swaying back and forth, trying to make out just 
where we were. My shotgun, though heavily 
loaded, would hardly reach him, and I crawled 
back to where Hank Humphrey lay, and took him, 
with his rifle, to a point near the river, where we 
hoped to see the Indian. But he was gone. While 
we lay there together in the sage brush, I saw what 
seemed the outline of an Indian's body in a bunch 
of willows. The strong wind rushing through the 
narrow pass swayed the willows to and fro, and as 
they leaned this way and that, so leaned his body. 
Some time I watched it, when a sudden gust re- 
vealed him. Instantly my gun was up, but Hank 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 259 

knocked it down, saying, " Stop, Captain, it's an 
ox." A leap over the bank, and the Indian was 
out of sight. 

Bitterly Hank reproached himself for this 
indiscretion, which had saved a murderer's life. 
I now called to Ives, and he came out from behind 
a rock, and when I told him where we had been 
since he sent wounded Henley up to the camp, he 
replied that he knew the Captain was not far off ; 
just where, he could not tell. And when I told 
him how near I crawled down to him, he trembled 
to think of the danger ran. Believing that Henley- 
was dead by this time, I believed I had a commis- 
sion to destroy his murderer. I asked my lieuten- 
ant to go a little above and with some men cut off 
the retreat of the Indians, while I would cross 
over where we were, and follow up their trail. 
He objected, saying there might be hundreds of 
hostiles there. I said, Then I will go alone, and 
calling our company dog I jumped into the river, 
and following it up a dozen rods under the over- 
hanging willows, I found where the Indians had 
crawled up the bank, and went up also, and pulled 
up the dog. To my surprise, I found myself fol_ 
lowed by two young men — McComb and Alex- 
ander Hargrave. They would not see me go 
alone. 

When out of the river, we found the trail so 
difficult we had to break a path for the dog. 
Reaching the wall on that side, I saw the marks 
of a wet foot on a rock, which showed he had 



200 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

gone up the cliff there. I turned quickly to the 
right, looking on the ground as if still following 
the track. When we had turned a corner, and 
were out of sight, I said : 

" That Indian went up the rocks where we first 
came to the wall. Hargrave, linger here several 
minutes, till McComb and I can go up this ravine 
and reach the top of the cliff. Then do you go 
back and follow the Indian up the rocks, rout him 
out, and we will have him." 

But it took us longer to reach the summit than 
Hargrave expected, and he went back. Our 
Indian, seeing him come back alone, left his hiding 
place. Just then I appeared on the plateau. He 
was some forty rods off, and could easily have kept 
out of reach. He was armed with a bow and 
arrows, and when he saw me he shook his fists in 
my face, and ran to meet me. I, too, ran to meet 
him. We were in full sight of a hundred men of 
my own train and Kennedy's, who saw us running 
together from the opposite bluff, and set up a uni- 
versal shout. My train had great confidence in 
my coolness and marksmanship, and, I think, had 
no fear of the result, but wondered that while he 
ran fast I ran toward him rather slowly. The 
reason was, I wished to preserve my breath and 
steadiness of nerve. 

Coming within eight or ten rods, he turned to 
run from me. I raised my gun, and he began 
dodging to right and left ; but that did not prevent 
his receiving sixteen heavy shot in his back, just 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 26l 

above the heart. His weapons fell out of his 
hands; he staggered, but laid hold of the sage 
brush with both his hands to hold himself up. 
McComb coming up, trembled so with excitement 
that he had to rest his rifle on my shoulder ; but 
the ball flew aside from the mark. And now the 
firing began from the other side the river, and so 
thick the balls flew about me and McComb that I 
had to swing my hat and order them to stop. 

In ten minutes fifty men had crossed the river, 
come over the bluff, and surrounded the wounded 
warrior. They asked the privilege of scalping 
him. This I refused. But unknown to me, they 
did it, and presented it to Henley, who survived, 
his chest not having been mortally pierced by the 
arrow. This Indian was a monster in size. His 
neck and shoulders were like those of a bullock. 
In his dying moments he struck a man and knocked 
him nearly a rod. The man said to me, "His stroke 
was like the kick of a horse." We afterward 
learned from friendly Indians that he was a big 
chief among the Bannocks, that they regarded him 
as the strongest man in the world. That at Fort 
Hall he whipped four men who set upon him at 
once. They also gave us his name. I have for- 
gotten it, but it signified "Big Thief." As we left 
camp that morning, Indians rose up out of the 
sage brush near our camp and ran to where the 
two Indians were killed, showing that they had 
been spectators of all that had passed. Nor had 
we proceeded far before the smoke of signal fires 



262 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

began to ascend from hilltops in different directions 
around us, some of them ten miles distant! And 
then we knew well the whole Bannock tribe was 
upon us. Most of the people in our train and 
Kennedy's were badly scared. We saw Indians 
on horses dashing over the hills at full speed to 
carry the news to the scattered warriors. The 
view I took of the situation differed widely from 
the rest. I said, "We are safer now than ever. 
They are mad, but they are scared, too. Their 
invincible chief attacked us by night but was out- 
witted and killed; he and his companion. They 
will hover around but run when we steal through 
the brush to get at them. " And so it proved. They 
followed us perhaps 200 miles but did not dare 
attack us. At length we drew near Catharine 
Creek, the western limit of the Bannock range. 
They determined there to make a stand and sent 
forward a chief and three braves to lie in ambush, 
spy out our camp defences, and attack us with their 
whole force by night. Going forward to select a 
camp as usual, there went with me one Geiger. 
Passing through the willows which lined the creek, 
I observed fresh footsteps of Indians, and also a 
strong smell of Indians. With quickened step I 
hurried through and made for an open space some 
twenty rods square and sat down in the middle of 
it. Geiger coming up asked, " What's your hurry, 
Captain?" I said there are Indians there ; I smelt 
them and saw their fresh tracks also. In an hour 
or so the train filed down the long hill. Most of 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 263 

the men, eager for game, came rushing on ahead, 
gun in hand, and as they came near the willows 
spread out like a fan. In doing so they unwittingly 
surrounded the Indians, and seeing them hid in 
the bushes quickly took them prisoners and brought 
them to me. While I was examining them and 
considering what to do with them, we were startled 
by the sound of a bugle approaching us from the 
opposite direction. Soon the advance guard of a 
regiment of United States soldiers and cavalry 
came filing around the hills! Hearing of the 
troubles on the plains, the United States Govern- 
ment had sent out from Oregon these troops to 
help the beleaguered emigrants. When the com- 
manding officer's tent was pitched, he sent a squad 
of soldiers to take the Indians to him. On the 
way they skipped right and left, and all four 
escaped. They soon rejoined their forces concealed 
behind the hills and told them that the game was 
up, there were too many of us now in the valley 
to be attacked. Their chagrin was great and they 
came out upon the hillsides in full view, and there 
they ran their ponies for full half an hour and thus 
worked off their wrath and gave vent to their ven- 
geance. Then they slowly took the backward 
track and we saw them no more. 

AN ESCORT ASKED AND DENIED. 

I think a full thousand persons were camped 
upon Catharine Creek. We staid there a week 
and recruited our hungry horses. As the time 



264 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

drew near when we were to continue our journey, 
a petition was gotten up for an escort of soldiers 
to accompany us to Oregon. Nearly every one 
signed it. It was presented by an able committee 
and well argued by a lawyer. Col. Maury, look- 
ing over the long list, said : " I don't see Capt. 
Bristol's name here ? " The lawyer replied that he 
would not sign it. " Why not ? " said Col. Maury. 
One of the committee said Capt. Bristol was a man 
without personal fear, and would run risks no 
sensible man could approve. The colonel called 
an orderly and bade him bring me to him. When 
I came, he said : " I see your name is not on this 
petition for an escort. Will you let us hear your 
reasons for not thinking an escort should be 
granted?" I replied my principal reason was 
that I thought the trains behind us would be in 
greater danger than we. That his whole force 
would be needed between this place and Fort 
Hall. That, if we would act the part of men, keep 
a good lookout, keep close together and select 
defensible camps, we would go through all right. 
Besides, if an escort were given us, our men would 
become careless and lean wholly on the soldiers 
for defence. But if we went without them, we 
would all be watchful, prepared, and therefore safe. 
Turning to one Capt. Crawford — the senior captain 
of the regiment — the colonel asked : " What do you 
think of that, Capt. Crawford ? " " That is sensible, ' 
he replied, and half a dozen other officers assented 
also. The colonel then said to the committee : 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 26$ 

" The view presented by Capt. Bristol is not only 
sensible, but it is patriotic. I agree with him 
entirely, and if you will heed his advice to rely 
on yourselves and keep close together, you will 
go through safely. I cannot give you an escort." 
The meeting broke up. The committee went 
out swearing mad and poured out their wrath 
without measure upon " Bristol's dare-devilism 
which had deprived us of an escort, and, no doubt, 
would prove the ruin of us all." And for once I 
was thoroughly unpopular, even in my own train. 
I offered to resign and have the train choose an- 
other captain. But no one seconded my sugges- 
tion and no one seemed to covet the privilege of 
running the risks I took every day in going for- 
ward and selecting our camps. When we reached 
Oregon and before, I believe, all were glad we 
were not bothered with the escort and coerced in 
our camps and disciplined by them. The truth 
was, I had no very exalted opinion of the fighting 
qualities of half the soldiers. Their method of 
fighting was objectionable. Better ten men who 
can crawl half a mile in the brush to shoot them 
singly, than a round hundred fighting as civilized 
soldiers usually do. The greatest instance of 
cowardice on the plains, I can remember, was that 
of a large soldier, wearing the United States' uni- 
form, who joined us on our way. In a skirmish, a 
little Indian, not weighing much over a hundred 
pounds, chased this big, tall soldier nearly a quarter 
of a mile, each running at the top of his speed. 



266 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

At last the big soldier jumped into Snake River! 
But the water was only about four feet deep where 
he struck it, and rising, he took refuge under a 
shelving rock. No doubt that little Indian laughs 
about it to this day, if he is alive. 

MASSACRE OF THE VAN ZANT TRAIN. 

Pursuing our journey, we camped one night 
on Castle Creek. About a mile from this we came 
upon the ruins of the " Van Zant " train, which a 
year before was here ambushed and captured by the 
Indians. It was a sad sight — the charred remains 
of wagons, the bones of cattle and horses, and the 
skulls of murdered men and women ! Some of the 
skulls were perforated with rifle bullets. These 
were scattered about, the work of these devils of 
the desert. I afterward fell in with one of the two 
who alone escaped that massacre. And the tale 
of horror he told was frightful. And he wept like 
a child, as he narrated to me how his lady love 
was slain there. How she stood by him night and 
day through all the siege and defence. How she 
loaded guns for him, encouraged him and brought 
food to him, till at last she fell at his side, perforated 
with balls and faint with hunger and thirst and 
loss of blood. 1 wish I could repeat her dying 
words to him — so brave, so sensible, so affectionate, 
even in death — but they are gone from me 
• The substance of his story was this: 
The Van Zant train was, I think, made up in 
Illinois and Wisconsin. It consisted mainly of 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 267 

families, who were en route for Oregon, and 
numbered some thirty-five persons. 

At Castle Creek they were visited by a band 
of Indians, who as usual asked for bread and meat, 
sugar, and what else they fancied. These were 
promptly given in the vain hope of propitiating 
their favor. The next day the train had got but 
a mile from their camp, when the same Indians 
they had fed the night before surrounded them 
and began to fire upon them ! A corral was 
formed and such cattle and horses as were not 
shot down gathered into it. The men lay behind 
their dead animals and wagons, and tried to defend 
themselves. And this they did all that day, the 
women loading guns and taking care of the wound- 
ed and the frenzied cattle. All night they were held 
in siege, and not a drop of water was to be had. 

The next day the battle was kept up, nearly all 
the cattle were killed, and all but half a dozen 
women and men. 

The stench of the putrefying corpses as well 
as the awful thirst made their stay there impos- 
sible and on the morning of the third day they 
rushed out, not caring whether they lived or died. 
One or two were killed, but the savages were so 
intent on plunder, they could not stop to kill the 
rest, and four succeeded in walking away from 
them. One died the next day, and they ate a part 
of his body. Another gave out and besought the 
two stronger to leave him and go forward for 
help. He was never seen afterward, was doubt- 



268 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

less eaten up by wolves. The two left followed 
along the trail, living on reptiles, raw fish and 
bark till they came to the settlements. Such was 
the fate of the " Van Zant train," and it is but a 
specimen of the heartless cruelty of these fiends of 
the forest. 

And we threw down the skulls and bones re- 
solved, that if they got our skulls, they would have 
to pay for them / And if any of us had started out 
on this trip, with the soft sentiment that the white 
man is always to blame for these Indian troubles, 
their minds were disabused of that false idea by 
this time. Drawing near the eastern boundary 
of Oregon, we were overtaken by a band of pros- 
pecting miners, who had first discovered the gold 
mines of Idaho, but were driven off by Indians. 
One of their number, a Mr. Grimes from Oregon, 
was shot down by them while engaged in digging 
for gold. The rest fled, leaving his body unburied, 
and were now en route for Auburn, for help and 
for supplies. Going up Burnt River, we met a 
band of three hundred horses, driven at headlong 
speed by some Indians. We were in a defile, and 
I demanded what they were doing with them. 
One of them replied, " Salt Lake ! " "Salt Lake ! " 
This was plausible, and we let them pass. The 
next day we found they had all been raided from 
the miners at Auburn. 

THE SETTLEMENTS REACHED. — FAREWELL SPEECH. 

Early in November we reached Grass Valley, 
ten miles from the town of Auburn, and were now 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 269 

quite within the bounds of civilization. There 
was no more occasion for a nightly guard, a cap- 
tain, or an organization. I led my train out upon 
a beautiful camping ground, and forming them 
as usual in a circle of wagons, I gave notice, that 
at seven o'clock that evening I wished all the 
members of the train to come together, as I pro. 
posed then to resign the office I had so long held, 
and to make them a farewell speech. 

Prompt to the moment the camp bell was 
rung, and all our train was at hand, and many 
others with them. In my speech I congrat- 
ulated my companions on our arrival at the 
end of a journey of over 2,000 miles, the greater 
part of it through a country destitute of forage 
and other supplies, and infested with hostile 
tribes intent on robbery and murder. That now 
after some seven months of weary travel by day 
and of watching by night, we had reached a land 
of peace, of plenty and of rest. That in all the 
long journey we had not lost a man or scarcely a 
beast. But we were all here to-night, not only 
alive, but all in good health. Fit it was we 
should congratulate each other on our singular 
success and express our gratitude to that Great 
Protector who had watched over us by night and 
by day. I thanked them for their loyalty to me 
as their chief officer and the confidence shown in 
having thrice elected me to the office I held. I 
felt this the more sensibly since so far as I knew 
ours was the only train which had crossed the 



270 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

plains this year, standing by their captain all the 
way through. While most of the trains had 
been rent by serious divisions ours never had one 
to speak of. That it was a great pleasure to me, 
and no doubt ever would be, to remember that in 
our long journey we had regularly reverenced the 
Sabbath day, and tried to keep it holy. That 
since we started, in but one instance had we 
harnessed our teams on that day, and then only 
to travel five miles to assist and protect some 
emigrants who had been attacked and robbed by 
Indians the night before. 

I thanked them for their uniform attendance 
on such sermons as I had been able to give them 
on the Lord's day. I referred to the pleasing fact 
that instead of falling behind other trains, on 
account of resting on the Sabbath day, we had 
out-traveled them all, and left them behind us. 
That the weekly rest had enabled us to keep our 
horses in good condition, had been a source of 
health and comfort to us all, and that this illustrates 
what will prove true of all the commandments of 
God, if we observe them, that they are all laid 
upon us in love, and that "in keeping them there is 
great reward." I remarked that I had received 
compliments from time to time from nearly all of 
them for the excellent camps I had selected and 
for wise management of affairs in emergencies. 
That I thanked them for such friendly words, but 
I wished here very emphatically to say, that 
whatever of success had attended my administra- 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO OREGON. 271 

tion, it was due to Him who has said, " If any man 
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to 
all men liberally, and upbraideth not." That every 
day in the long- journey I had asked the Lord to 
give me wisdom to select our camps and in all 
our affairs to be my guide and helper. That when 
I asked I believed he would do so, and now that we 
are through and looking back, I believed he had 
done so. 

Wishing them all success in their varied 
pursuits, a happy return to their families in due 
time, and a happier meeting by and by in that 
better country, when the toils of life are over, I 
tendered my resignation. Rounds of applause 
followed. A lawyer stepped forward, called the 
train to order, and a committee was appointed on 
resolutions. Congratulatory speeches were made, 
and then the committee reported a series of reso- 
lutions too complimentary to their captain to be 
inserted here. As we were yet to move on ten 
miles further to Auburn it was voted unanimously 
that their captain should proceed at the head of 
their train and corral them there, which I did the 
following day. From this last encampment we 
gradually separated and went our several ways, 
the most of us to meet no more till from our sight 
these heavens and earth have passed away. 

Long years have passed since then — twenty 
and five of them — but the attachment then formed 
to those companions in tribulation is as fresh and 
strong as it was then. It was a great pleasure to 



272 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

meet several of them during a subsequent residence 
of nearly two years in Idaho and to share with 
them the hospitalities of a miner's home. They 
were all as brothers to me, nor do I think I was 
less to them. There is a strange fascination that 
binds us to the companions of our struggles and 
sorrows. I remember how the old revolution- 
ary soldiers used to gather under my grand- 
father's roof and recount with much zest and often 
with tears of joy the marches they made together, 
the battles they fought, the sufferings endured and 
the hairbreadth escapes they ran. They told of 
hunger endured, wounds received, rags they 
wore, of cracked and bleeding feet marking with 
gory stains the frozen sod, as they marched and 
counter-marched, during the seven years of war. 
O! how these old soldiers loved one another! 
Even so in like manner our lesser perils had knit 
our hearts together, and neither time nor space 
shall quench the fires which then were kindled. 
Who can tell but that in the endless future the 
sorrows and struggles of the earthly life shall 
.contribute immensely to its bliss? 



CHAPTER XVII. 

OFF FOR IDAHO. 

Arrived at Auburn I began at once to prospect 
the hills and valleys for mining claims. But while 
I could find " the color " or small particles of gold 
almost anywhere over a large section of country, 
there were few places where it was concentrated 
in paying quantities. 

The news from Idaho being favorable, Messrs. 
Bainan and Walcott, McComb and myself formed 
a company, sold our cabin and all we could spare 
and invested in a couple of yoke of oxen, a wagon 
and supplies, and started off for the new mining 
placer. It was midwinter and bitterly cold, and 
much we suffered before we reached the end of 
our journey, 300 miles distant. Once on our way 
we walked or ran all night to keep from being 
frozen to death, for we camped where not a stick 
of dry wood could be found nor other wood save 
green willows or alder. On another our favorite 
ox came to us about midnight, alkalied and leaning 
his head against me, seemed to say, " I am deathly 
sick, master, and have come to you for help." In 
spite of all we could do he died, and we had to 
proceed with a "spike team," as the miners called 
it. Reaching the mountain we managed to climb 

(273) 



274 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

over with our three oxen and the forward wheels 
of our wagon, to which were lashed our blankets 
and a little food. The rest of our provisions we 
had freighted over at $12 per hundred pounds. 
The last three days our poor oxen ate nothing, 
and when we butchered them Deacon Bainan said 
there was not tallow enough in them all to grease 
one pair of boots. And I think he was correct. 

We located at Placerville, and at once com- 
menced sawing our lumber by hand. We had 
brought along a saw from Auburn for that purpose. 
Lumber was bringing, I think, $30 per hundred 
feet, and we could earn about $5 a day to the 
hand above the expense of living. Flour was $50 
per one hundred pounds. Bacon the same, and 
other things in proportion. My partners being 
well settled for the winter in a fair business, I 
proposed to strike out for myself and did so. 
Went over to Mores Creek (now Idaho City) and 
formed a partnership with one William Henry 
from Illinois. 

RICH MINES UNDER HOUSES. 

My partner's cabin was built on a bench thirty 
rods above the creek. The snow was four feet deep. 
There were twenty other cabins near us, and the 
difficulty of bringing water from the creek led us 
to hire a man to dig a well. At a depth of eighteen 
feet the well-digger struck the bed rock. He 
found no water, but seeing pieces of gold in his 
bucket he went to the river with a pan full of dirt 



OFF FOR IDAHO. 275 

and washed out $2.50 in gold. He went to the saloon 
and showed his find. Each gambler dropped his 
cards, paper and pencil in hand, ran up the beach 
and posted on a pine tree, some such notice as 

this : " I claim 60 feet west of this notice for 

mining purposes, etc." Thus in half an hour the 
whole beach for half a mile along the side of the 
Creek was taken up by gamblers, the rest of us being 
away in the hills prospecting. All these claims 
were fabulously rich. That on which our cabin 
was built was worth $250,000 the day it was taken 
up, for it yielded about $500,000. Three brothers 
named White held this claim and the one adjoining. 
They employed a force of seventeen men by day 
and as many by night. Their clean-up usually 
amounted to about $2,000 a day. This was, at 
least, $1,500 beyond expenses. They took turns 
at superintending the mine, and while one was 
doing this the other two were sleeping, gambling 
or otherwise dissipating. 

They mined under our house till we had to 
leave it and it tumbled into the excavation. They 
took out an immense sum, but the last I heard 
of them they were all poor. It is a saying among 
gamblers that " riches got by gambling never abide 
long by the winner." 

SETTLEMENT OF BOISE VALLEY. 

The heavy snowfall, some five feet deep, 
impeded all prospecting, and for a few days I had 
nothing to do. So I betook myself to figuring 



2j6 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

out the problem of the next year's supply of 
vagetables and grain for the Idaho miners. I had 
heard that the valley of the Boise River, some fifty 
miles distant, was warm and fertile and spent a 
day in figuring the expense and profits of an 
expedition there, taking along our starving horses, 
and cultivating 500 acres of land, marketing, etc. 
William Henry looked over my shoulder occasion- 
ally and, wishing to have some fun, went all over 
town and invited everybody to come to our 
house that evening. 

Of course I was ignorant of all this. But as 
evening was coming on, men began to drop in 
until the cabin was full, and I wondered what 
was up. Soon a dignified man rapped three times 
on the table and called the meeting to order. All 
was still and he began his speech, somewhat as 
follows : " Fellow citizens ! Our usually quiet 
community, 1 am grieved to say, has of late be- 
come excited and alarmed, by certain strange and 
suspicious actions, by one of our citizens from 
whom we had hoped better things ! Not to be 
further tedious, I will now call upon Capt. or Rev. 
Bristol, to rise and explain to this honorable 
assembly, the meaning of certain suspicious papers 
known to be in his possession, and to show the 
intent of formidable arrays of figures and hiero- 
glyphics found therein ! " After a hearty laugh, 
in which all joined, I took the floor and explained 
the situation. Our starving mules and horses, the 
high prices of potatoes and grain, the probable 



OFF FOR IDAHO. 2/? 

want of hay and vegetables in all the mining camps 
next summer, and the high prices we should have 
to pay for them. 

Then I turned to Boise Valley, its adaptability 
to agriculture and gardening, the way to get 
there, how many men it would take to break a 
road through the snow, and the horses we could 
take by so doing, the saving of human life and 
money, too, in Idaho by this move. When I was 
through objections were heard and replied to, and 
by 12 o'clock the whole crowd had been con- 
verted to my views, and were eager to start off the 
next day. But I persuaded them to delay a 
couple of days and get a good ready. 

In two days we were on the move, some fifty 
men and 300 half starved horses, mules and asses. 
The snow was five feet on a level, and thus we 
proceeded. Thirty men went forward as path- 
finders and path-breakers through the snow. 
They followed each other in single file, those 
forward floundering along a few rods, and then 
when tired out falling out till the other path- 
breakers had passed, and then falling in again. 
Then came the animals, the strongest in advance, 
and drivers intermingled to keep them all in 
motion. In this way a fine path was made for the 
feebler animals. 

We made perhaps ten miles the first day, and 
twenty the second. The snow became less and 
less in depth as we descended toward the valley. 
On the third day toward evening, we looked down 



2?S THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

upon the great valley. Far as the eye could reach 
no snow was there ! and grass in abundance was 
everywhere ! Even on the foot hills, tufts of 
rich bunch grass cropping out of the snow tempted 
our starving animals to rush out of the trail for 
a mouthful. But when we came in full view of 
the vast pasture lands, free from snow, not only 
the men swung their hats and cheered, but 
our animals, whinnying and braying, expressed 
their joy, and then ran pell-mell down into 
the valley ! Many of the men took out their 
knives, cut a sackful of hay and carrying it 
back to some favorite animal, which had given 
out by the way, fed it to him, and led him also 
into the valley. 

We began at once to stake off claims of one 
hundred and sixty acres each, for farming pur- 
poses, and soon the whole valley was largely 
taken up by these claims for fifteen miles. 

THE INDIANS STAMPEDE OUR HORSES. 

No Indians were in the valley when we en- 
tered it. We had been in it perhaps three weeks, 
when learning that we were there they made a 
raid upon us one stormy night. 

The wind was howling fiercely, and the rain 
fell in torrents. Near midnight, the wild neighings 
of horses and braying of mules was heard above 
the thunder of the storm, as they rushed past us 
up the valley at the top of their speed, as if a 
troop of devils were after them. My own riding 



OFF FOR IDAHO. 279 

horse, tied fast to a tree under which I had spread 
my tent and was trying to sleep, fairly bawled 
out his terror, and leaped and plunged as if a tiger 
was upon him. I rushed out gun in hand, and 
succeeded in keeping him from breaking his rope. 
No doubt an Indian was at hand, and scaring 
him as only an Indian can. But it was so dark 
I could not see an object five feet distant. All I 
could do was to hold my horse, and listen to the 
unearthly wail of the terrified animals, as they 
died away in the distance. The next morning we 
found they had taken from us one hundred and 
twenty-five horses and mules, not one of which 
was ever recovered. 

A few of our company followed them to the 
crossing of the Boise River, some ten miles above, 
and gave up the pursuit. They passed a dozen of 
dead or dying horses, which were not able to keep 
up with the rest, and were shot with an arrow and 
left to die a lingering death. Of course we put 
them out of their misery. But what cared these 
Indians for the sufferings of a horse ? Or even of 
a man ? Their tender mercies are cruel. It was 
not long before the stolen animals were replaced 
by others. The sound of the ax and of falling 
trees was heard all along the Boise, in the patches 
of timber which lined its banks. Houses began to 
show themselves on every quarter section. 

Taking up a ranch in the valley, I became 
associated with Messrs. Richie and Davis, in the 
cultivation of a farm. We built a log house and 



28o THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

a strong stockade, where nightly we gathered our 
horses and cows, to save them from Indian raids. 
The gate opened within twenty feet of our door 
and the bars were pinned to their posts. We had 
port-holes through which we could shoot in case 
of a siege. A chinking left out at the head of my 
bed enabled me to look out at the corral gate and 
to shoot through it if necessary. One night about 
twelve o'clock some horses came running up to 
our yard. A falling bar startled me and I was 
soon out at the gate, gun in hand. I saw an In- 
dian crouch behind a sage bush. Knowing that 
he was armed, 1 pretended not to notice him, but 
went around among the horses, to get a better 
sight at him. But the wily thief crawled away. 
For half an hour in looking for him, I was exposed 
to instant death from an arrow. Not finding him 
I put up the bar again, went in to the cabin and 
lay down. Meantime the thieves stole up, and 
taking down the bars noiselessly, at a flap of 
their blankets, all our horses rushed out pell-mell 
together and started off at full speed with those 
of our neighbors ! Quickly I was out among them. 

But such was the dust raised that I could see 
no one, and dared not fire lest I should wound 
or kill our own horses rather than the Indians. So 
they were soon out of sight and hearing. 

This time we lost all our stock, and so did 
many of our neighbors. Other raids they made 
with equal success. After one of them some of 
the settlers followed them, and after a battle drew 



OFF FOR IDAHO. 28 1 

them into a rocky fastness, where they besieged 
them for several days, but one night most of them 
crawled out and escaped; several of them, however, 
had been killed. 

Should any one ask, what use the Indians had 
for so many horses? I answer, They ate them! 
At one place we found the heads and bones of 
perhaps thirty, which they had recently eaten. 

INDIANS OUTWITTED. 

Two of the miners visiting us went down 
the valley to Snake River and camped near a cross- 
ing. They saw two Indians watching them on 
the other side. They hailed them and asked in 
Chinook where they were going. The Indians 
replied by asking back the same question ? The 
miners replied, "Going to steal horses." The In- 
dians said that was what they were going to do. 
Were there not some up the Boise ? Yes, and 
fat ones, too, was the reply. Both parties cooked 
their bacon and coffee, wrapped themselves in their 
blankets, and feet fire ward, pretended to go to 
sleep. As the fire light became dim, the miners 
slipped out of their blankets, leaving their hats and 
blankets as if a man was still in them, crawled be- 
hind some bushes and waited developments. In 
the light of the moon, they saw the Indians slowly 
crossing the river, and then stealing softly up 
toward the smoldering camp-fire, discharged their 
arrows into what seemed the men in their blankets. 
At that instant the miners also fired ! and there 



282 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

were two less of a race whose principal business 
is to rob and to kill. 

In spite of Indian raids, want of farming im- 
plements and seed, we raised an immense amount 
of produce that year in Boise Valley. I and my 
partners planted twenty acres of potatoes. For 
seed potatoes, we had to send to Oregon, and 
import from thence 2,500 pounds. For perhaps 
four hundred miles they were brought on the 
backs of mules and horses, and when they arrived 
they cost us thirty-three cents a pound, or about 
twenty dollars a bushel, and the seed for the twenty 
acres, eight hundred and twenty-five dollars ! We 
also planted corn, melons, etc., nearly all of which 
were reasonably profitable. Our potato crop we 
sold at from ten to twelve thousand dollars. Our 
hay we sold at seventy-five dollars a ton. Hay 
brought that year two hundred dollars a ton, in 
Idaho City, sixty miles distant, and for months we 
were offering one hundred dollars a ton for carry- 
ing our hay to that market. 

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS. 

Six miles from us was what was called "Steam- 
boat Springs." This was a spring of boiling 
water which was poured out of a crevice or hole 
in a rock, with such hissing noise and force, that 
it strikingly reminded us of a steam engine blow- 
ing off steam. 

Some ranch men, wiser than we were, saw 
how they could utilize it. They took up a claim 



OFF FOR IDAHO. 283 

below it, and led forth its smoking waters into 
several ditches, and through extensive vegetable 
gardens. The land was not only irrigated but 
warmed. The late frosts were kept off, and they 
put vegetables into the market three weeks earlier 
than we could. So also in the fall they supplied 
the market four weeks longer than we could. 

BUILDING OF FORT BOISE. 

During the summer a regiment of cavalry was 
sent by the Government from Oregon to Idaho 
to build a fort, and to protect the miners and 
farmers there. The commander of this force had 
heard of me from Col. Maury, and on his arrival 
in Boise Valley, sent for me to visit his camp. 

He informed me of his business, to build a fort 
large enough to accommodate a force of one 
thousand men, and for this purpose $500,000 had 
been made subject to his order. It must be lo- 
cated within fifty miles of the mouth of the Boise; 
it must be in a healthy locality, have good water 
and plenty of wood and forage. Also, that there 
must be timber near, and of good quality, as he 
would have to erect two sawmills, to furnish the 
amount of lumber required for the fort. Did I 
know of such a location for a fort ? I replied that 
I knew of two, either of which would fill the bill. 
After two weeks spent in looking at localities rec- 
ommended by others he fixed upon the one I had 
recommended as most suitable, and there he com- 
menced at once to build. 



284 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

BOISE CITY. 

The fort being located and hundreds of work- 
men gathered there, the necessity for a town or 
city became at once apparent. Half a dozen 
officers from the fort and several prominent citi- 
zens met at my house and formed a town site 
company. There were seventeen of us in all. We 
divided the stock into eighteen shares. Of these 
two shares were voted to me and the other sixteen 
shareholders had one each. I was the president 
of the company. We had our plat surveyed, litho- 
graphed, and a copy sent to each member of the 
Territorial Legislature, then in session at Lewiston. 
We invited the legislators to visit us and agreed 
to pay their expenses. They came and were most 
hospitably entertained ; they were shown the fine 
grounds we had set apart for the legislative and 
State buildings, and when they went back they 
voted to make our city on paper the capital of the 
Territory. And to-day Boise City is the most 
important town in the Territory. The govern- 
mental buildings are all on " Capital Square," the 
churches on " Church Square," and the educational 
buildings on " Schoolhouse Block," and every 
street in the city bears the name we gave it, 
before scarce a house was there. 

Let no one think I became a millionaire because 
I owned one-ninth of Boise City. I did not make 
a hundred dollars out of it. Our expenses were 
large, and beside this I gave away to worthy 
persons all my best lots. 



OFF FOR IDAHO. 285 

OWYHEE MINES. 

Among the rich mining sections of Idaho were 
those situated on one of the branches of the 
Owyhee River, which empties into the Snake on 
its southwesterly side. They were discovered by 
one Jordan early in the summer of 1864. He 
was a brave man, and possessed of many fine 
qualities. I had no special acquaintance with him, 
but no sooner had he made his discovery, than he 
came to me and offered me an equal partnership 
with him in his claims, if I would go with him and 
help develop them. I thanked him but declined, 
on the ground that I intended to leave for the 
States in the coming fall or winter. But he stood 
by me a whole day and argued the case, and when 
he found I could not be persuaded, he went away 
downcast and greatly disappointed. Poor fellow, 
he returned to his claims and soon after was killed 
by Indians as he was looking after his horses. 
Jordan River was so named after him, and not 
after the Jordan of Scripture, as many suppose. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

RETURNING HOMEWARD. — TRIP TO WALLA WALLA. 

In December, 1884, Capt. Hughes, quarter- 
master of the fort, was summoned to report at 
San Francisco. He was a fine officer and a 
special friend of mine, and he invited me to share 
a seat with him in his carriage as far as Walla 
Walla. Settling up my affairs, I found I had 
accumulated seven or eight thousand dollars during 
my stay in Idaho. A part of this I collected, and 
a part was intrusted to a friend for future collec- 
tion and to be sent as fast as received by express 
to Wisconsin. Alas, of this latter I received next 
to nothing. For though collected, my friend 
loaned it for a few days to a merchant in Idaho 
City, but before it was repaid the man was burnt 
out and I lost it all. Before leaving, the citizens 
demanded a farewell speech, which I gave them, 
and left with Capt. Hughes and his escort. A 

couple of weeks or so brought us to Walla Walla. 

• 

DOWN THE COLUMBIA. 

Boarding a steamer at Wallula, the river port 
of Walla Walla, we started down the Columbia 
for Portland. The trip is full of startling sensa- 
tions from Wallula to the foot of the Cascades or 

(286) 



RETURNING HOMEWARD. 287 

lower falls of the river. Once taken it is never 
forgotten. First of all it is a great river and dis- 
charges a vast volume of water into the ocean. 
Then it is remarkable for its summer flood — like 
"Jordan overflowing all its banks in time of 
harvest" — several months after the spring rains 
have ceased to fall. This arises from the melting 
of the snows at that season on vast mountain ranges 
whence this great river derives its waters. Re- 
markable, too, it is for the vast shoals of salmon 
which, at a set time in the year, come up from un- 
known pasture grounds far away in the depths of 
the ocean, and, entering its mouth at Astoria, 
ascend its cataracts and rapids, nor stop in their 
mad race till they have reached its sources — 1,000 
to 2,500 miles distant. 

Not one in fifty of its tributaries fails to receive 
great numbers of these valuable fish. I have seen 
them so thick I could kill them with a shovel. 
They are the principal article of food for the 
Indians over the vast territory it drains. While 
from the lower rapids to Astoria a hundred canner- 
ies catch and cure and send to distant markets 
more salmon than, perhaps, all other rivers of the 
world united. 

But the feature of this river which especially 
startles the traveler as the steamboat leaves Wal- 
lula, is the headlong speed of the boat as it rushes 
down the rapids. I think the flow of the river is 
equal to six or eight knots an hour. The surface 
is, much of it, white with foam and broken up into 



288 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

unnumbered hillocks of leaping waters. Had I 
been called upon to give it a name, I should surely 
have called it " Mad River." But what made our 
headlong plunge down thereon seem madness in- 
tensified, was the sight of immense boulders strewn 
in uncounted numbers over the river bed, and 
directly under our boat, and sometimes so near 
the surface that it seemed a miracle that we did 
not strike them, and our boat be dashed in pieces. 
We wondered if the water had not moved some of 
them on a little, and nearer the surface, since the 
last trip was made? Too near to be passed over 
in safety ? Why not ? Had not all these boulders 
been floated or rolled down to their present posi- 
tion, some of them from a hundred miles above ? 
And if it was continually moving them on, what 
assurance could the last survey give of present 
safety? But worse than such conjectures was the 
actual sight of a reef of jagged rocks projecting 
quite out into the current and directly before us. 
We were running straight upon it. It was a 
grand sight — the mighty Columbia, rearing twenty 
feet high and leaping like a mad horse upon that 
barrier, and then to witness the recoil as, dashed 
into fragments it fell back discomfited, and thence- 
forth pursuing its way, for a time at least, with 
much less of self-confidence and arrogant pride. 

But how about our boat, laden with valuable 
freight, and a hundred human beings ? We are 
scarce twenty rods distant from the reef. One 
minute and we shall be upon it ! Is not the helms- 



RETURNING HOMEWARD. 289 

man asleep ? Or. more likely he is insane, and 
bent on dashing us all to pieces ! And now we are 
just upon it, ready to shriek with terror or leap 
overboard, when our boat is uplifted by a mighty 
wave of recoiling waters, and aided by a skillful 
turn of the helm, is thrown into a side channel, 
and the danger is past ! 

Through several of these hairbreadth escapes 
the voyager passes, ere he reaches the quiet flow 
of the Lower Columbia. Yet so skillful are the 
navigators of these rapids that rarely an accident 
happens or a life is lost. So dangerous are some 
parts that a railroad is built around them, and 
navigation suspended. In one part, for several 
miles, the water flows gently, and down upon the 
bottom, several fathoms below the keel of our ship, 
are seen large pine stumps, standing erect as when 
alive and growing. Fremont, I think it was (pos- 
sibly Lewis and Clarke), accounted for this, by a 
landslide, long ago, down into the bed of the 
river. The objection to this is, had that been the 
case, the stumps would be at all angles, instead of 
all standing erect, pointing to the zenith, as when 
they were growing. The true solution probably 
is that they are in place, or as they grew in a deep 
valley, and that a big landslide below dammed up 
the river and raised its waters over the valley, 
killed the trees, and hence these stumps, and hence 
this depth of quiet water. 

The lower part of the Columbia contrasts 
widely with the part just described. Emerging 



290 THE PIONEER TREACHER. 

from the Cascade ranges, it assumes at once a new 
character. It now has a depth and gentleness of 
flow, and an amplitude of navigable channel, which 
is the admiration of all. For 100 miles, more 
or less, it moves on slowly and majestically 
toward the sea, and when it reaches Astoria it has 
a breadth of miles and a grandeur equal to the Mis- 
sissippi or the Hudson. 

PORTLAND. 

The steamer from the Cascades carried us to 
Portland, where I spent a couple of weeks. I was 
so pleased with the place that I half made up my 
mind to buy a home and locate there. In pursu- 
ance of this, I crossed over to East Portland, on 
the other side the Willamette, to look at some 
places for sale there. One was shown me of 160 
acres, with a fair sized two-story house and out- 
buildings, for some less than $3,000. I concluded 
I would buy it, but going back with the land 
agent to look up the title, I was buttonholed by 
another man, who offered me another piece of 
property quite as cheap. Then another took me 
in hand, and so much property was crowded upon 
me, and at such low prices, that I was scared, and 
inly resolved I would not buy where everybody 
was trying to sell out and leave. So declining them 
all, I bought a ticket for San Francisco and left. 

This was twenty-four years ago. Sixteen years 
thereafter, on a visit to Portland, 1 went over the 
river, and lo ! that 160 acre lot, offered me for less 



RETURNING HOMEWARD. 29I 

than $3,000, was now in the center of the city of 
East Portland, and not one acre could be pur- 
chased for $1,000. 

SAN FRANCISCO. 

Reaching San Francisco, I found the city im- 
mensely changed from what it was thirteen years 
before, at my last visit, but in nothing more than 
in the expense of living. In 185 1, hotel bills were 
all the way from $3 a day to $10. A single 
meal, however plain and unpretentious, was $1. 
Now, in 1864, the usual charge for a square meal 
(as the miners call it) was from twenty-five cents 
to half a dollar. I took a room at the Railroad 
House, and a very desirable one, too; two beds 
were in it, it was large and furnished with books, 
writing material, etc., and all my companion and I 
paid was fifty cents each a day. Two large res- 
taurants were attached to the hotel. One for 
families and ladies, the other for men and transient 
boarders ; and in either of them a liberal patronage 
of the bill of fare seldom made the expense over 
thirty-seven cents for a meal. And I daily saw 500 
men go into the u Lick Restaurant" and get a fair 
dinner there for ten cents each. Indeed, San Fran- 
cisco had, during those thirteen years, taken a long 
step forward, and from being the most expensive 
city on earth to live in, had now become one of the 
very cheapest. 

I was surprised to find that California still ad- 
hered strictly to the gold and silver basis, notwith- 



292 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

standing the National law making greenbacks 
legal tender for payment of debts. California was 
truly a loyal State, but her courts, her legislature, 
and all her citizens, tacitly ignored the Greenback 
Act of Congress, and only gold and silver were 
currency within her bounds. The National paper 
was indeed here, but it was not treated as money, 
but was bought and sold by brokers, the same as 
mining stocks, or bonds of States and cities. Suits 
had been started several times in the courts, to 
compel creditors to take greenbacks at their face 
for debts, but the judges put the cases off from 
time to time, or persuaded the parties to withdraw 
them. 

The ground generally taken by the leading 
men of the State was, that while the National 
Legal Tender Act was a necessity in carrying on 
the war, the case of California, as a gold-pro- 
ducing State, was exceptional. She ought to re- 
tain her gold against future emergencies. Happily 
she did so, and it enabled her, when the war was 
over, to open her vaults and allow her coin to flow 
over the mountains, and enable the Government 
the sooner to resume specie payments, and bring 
her credit up to par and above it among the na- 
tions of the earth. While in the city I bought 
$1,000 in currency for $650 in gold. After a 
month's stay I left for New York. Nothing of 
special interest occurred on the passage. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

AT HOME AGAIN. 

Arrived at New York, I found the great city 
full of business, and in full tide of prosperity, with 
scarce a sign of the great war now in progress, 
and hastening to its close. The expense of living 
was frightful, and contrasted strongly with San 
Francisco. I think my room in the hotel cost me 
$3 a day. But everything was on a greenback 
basis. I could readily sell my gold on Wall street 
for double its face in greenbacks. 

From the city I hastened to visit kindred and 
friends in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachu- 
setts, New York State, and Ohio, bringing up at 
my home in Dartford, Wis., about the first of 
April, 1864. I found on my arrival another min- 
ister occupying my old pulpit, and acting pastor 
of the church. He proposed at once to resign, 
but I opposed with all my might, saying that I 
much preferred to engage in evangelistic work, 
assisting the churches in their special meetings, 
unembarrassed by pastoral care and work. That 
as my home was there, I would pay for his sup- 
port more than any one else in the parish. But 
nothing could change his purpose, saying that 
neither himself or any other man could satisfy the 

(393) 



294 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

people, while the old pastor, endeared to them 
by so many thrilling memories, was at hand and 
able to serve them. So, much to my regret he 
left, and I soon found myself in the old traces 
again. 

After I had served them a year or so, there 
came a call from two churches, Brandon and 
Springvale, to preach alternately to each of 
them, giving Brandon the morning sermon on 
the Sabbath and to Springvale that of the after- 
noon. Both of these churches were endeared to 
me by revival meetings I had held in them years 
before. They were only five miles apart. Reluct- 
antly I left Dartford for the new field and labored 
there till near the end of 1867. Little of note oc- 
curred during my stay there. 

In each church we held revival meetings and 
quite a number were, we trust, added to the Lord 
in both places. But a great and sore trial was now 
coming upon me. The nerve power so indispen- 
sable to' sustained effort in preaching — especially 
in protracted efforts — now began to fail me. 
Calls came to me from all sides to aid my brethren 
in these harvest seasons of the churches. But the 
vigor of former years had departed. A sermon, 
energetic during the first fifteen minutes, became 
weak and labored as it approached its conclusion. 
A week or two of continuous effort prostrated me 
completely. I felt intensely sad at this, and it was a 
question of anxious thought, Whence is this? 
Have I not in some way grieved from my heart the 



AT HOME AGAIN. 295 

Divine Spirit, so that as in the case of Israel of old, 
he goes no more forth with me, to fight the battles of 
the Lord ? Over and over again I reviewed the past 
stopping at each questionable place and asking, Did 
I here do just what was right ? And did I not at 
this point let go of that Divine hand which so 
gently and so tenderly led me, during those years 
of success and power ? But to these earnest inter- 
rogations there came no satisfactory response. 

God was trying me, while yet he was leading 
me through a dark place. But light was beyond, 
and all the while I was approaching it. In some 
such way it came. 

THE SERMON IN THE APPLE TREE. 

Walking one day in my orchard, I came to an 
apple tree which I greatly prized. It had borne 
great crops for years of excellent fruit. But now, 
alas, its fruit was small and withered, the leaves 
were turning yellow and that year, though compar- 
atively young, it had made little growth ! It was 
evident its period of fruit bearing was past and 
God had shifted over upon other and younger 
trees, the burdens it had been wont to carry. As 
I stood looking at it, I read there written among 
the branches — God's inexorable law — that not al- 
ways on earth shall even the best employed pow- 
ers retain their vigor or fruitfulness, but like this 
tree, must ultimately wither and give place to 
others. That this has been true of other men — the 
latchet of .whose shoes I am not worthy to un- 



296 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

loose, and why not in my case as well? And 
decadence in abilities and success is no more proof 
of God's displeasure than of his wrath against this 
tree. And I went out of that orchard a wiser 
and a happier man ! — thanking God for the past, 
reconciled to the present, and looking hopefully 
toward the future. Since then I have daily 
thanked the Lord for abilities still retained, and 
have sought to use them, well and wisely. 

THE SKEPTIC'S CONVERSION. 

In one of these meetings of days — held during 
my pastorate in Springvale — there occurred a some- 
what remarkable conversion. It was that of Mr. 
Eugene Ely, now a resident of Iowa, a licentiate 
preacher, an accomplished instructor of youth and 
in other walks a most devout and useful man. 
Should his eye fall upon this narration, I trust he 
will pardon this exposure to the public of a confer- 
ence eminently private and confidential, for the sake 
of the benefit it is hoped others may derive from 
it. Mr. Ely had years before married a most ex- 
cellent lady in my church, the daughter of its 
former pastor, a Miss Julia Lamb. 

Mr. Ely was a well-educated man, had taught 
school, and had been an officer in the Union army. 
But alas, he was a disbeliever in the Bible, and 
quite pronounced and outspoken in his sentiments 
of disbelief. But his wife, her sister and brother 
were decided Christians and were praying for him 
continually. They desired he should have a talk 



AT HOME AGAIN. 297 

with me on the subject. He would be pleased to 
do so, as he regarded Mr. Bristol as a candid 
man, but it would do no good for he had objec- 
tions to the Bible and all revealed religion no 
man on earth could remove ! It was while hold- 
ing a series of meetings in Springvale that an 
opportunity occurred. I was boarding with Mr. 
Edward Lamb and his sister, when Mr. Ely and 
wife came to pay them a visit, and perhaps also to 
attend some of the meetings. 

This brought us in contact and afforded the 
opportunity for the coveted conversation, and we 
took a whole day for it, a day never to be forgot 
ten by him or by me. It was a snowy day and 
little could be done without. So at the breakfast 
table Mr. Lamb said: "Eugene, I will do the 
chores and do you and Mr. Bristol go into the parlor 
and have a good talk to-day." All the family in- 
dorsed heartily the suggestion. So we went in and 
the door was shut. Turning at once to the matter 
uppermost in each of our minds, I opened by show- 
ing briefly what were the great and benevolent 
principles the Bible teaches and seeks by highest 
rewards to implant in the hearts of men, and what 
an Eden restored it would soon create in our 
world, would all mankind adopt and practice 
them. Was such a religion begotten and brought 
forth by a generation of liars or of fools ? Could a 
bad tree bring forth such good fruit? Mr. Ely 
admitted there was force in these considerations. 

But the objections were strong enough to set it 



298 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

all aside. Should be mention some of them ? Yes, 
surely. I would be glad to hear them. He pre- 
sented one. I admitted its plausibility, and taking 
his line of thought 1 added a further consideration 
which gave it additional force. He thanked me 
for it and asked, How can you answer them? I 
then gave the considerations which to my mind 
completely neutralized the force of those objections 
to the Bible. He listened candidly, and at length 
said, " We will lay that objection to the Bible aside. 
I don't think it has much force." He brought forth 
another, and this was treated like its predecessor 
and like it laid aside. And so the discussion went 
on all the forenoon, the utmost candor prevail- 
ing all through. We were seeking the truth, and 
the God of truth was there helping us to disen- 
tangle it from error. We were called to dinner, 
after which Mr. Ely went to his room a moment 
and his anxious wife asked about the discussion and 
he replied, "The pleasantest I ever had in my life." 
"Did he answer your objections?" "Yes and with 
the utmost fairness. He is the most candid of 
men. But I have not presented my strongest. I 
have reserved them to this afternoon. Those ob- 
jections I know he cannot answer, or any one else." 
We returned to the parlor, and took up the 
thread of argument where we dropped it for din- 
ner. Other objections were brought forward, and 
resulted as in the forenoon — till near night Mr. 
Ely brought forth not only his strong, but one 
which he considered the unanswerable argument 



AT HOME AGAIN. 299 

against the Bible. The answer I gave startled him! 
Springing to his feet he said, "Please state that 
again!" I did so in other language. He saw it was 
fatal. It undermined his great objection com- 
pletely. And there he stood disarmed and naked 
before God and all the sweeping claims of religion 
and the Bible. I had felt all that day, and I pre- 
sume so had he, that the room was full of light ! 
That exposing error and presenting truth, we were 
aided by a prompter unseen. 

The sun was setting, and Mr. Ely, taking his hat 
went out into an adjacent wood, I presume to pray. 
Returning at tea, he said I must go home. Why? 
He had some rails to haul, etc. I asked if there 
was not something in the line of duty far more 
important than hauling rails ? He thought a 
moment and said, I will go to meeting to-night. 
We went. I tried to preach. But my nerve-power 
was gone, used up by the day's discussion. Preach- 
ing this night was rowing against wind, and wave 
and tide. After speaking feebly some fifteen min- 
utes, I closed the book and said, Brethren, I am 
too weary to preach to-night. I must turn over 
upon your shoulders the burden and responsi- 
bilities of this meeting. Deacon Savage prayed and 
then there was an oppressive silence, and I rose 
and said, " Perhaps there is in this house some 
one not a Christian, whose hour of supreme in- 
terest has come ; the hour whose decision and 
action will determine an endless future ! 

"Such a crisis occurs some time in the history 



300 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

of us all ! Oh, the value of that hour, when the 
Spirit hovering over a convicted sinner, whispers : 
1 Now is the accepted time, to-day is the day of 
salvation !' Had poor, begging, blind Bartimeus, 
sitting pensive by the wayside when Jesus passed 
by neglected, even for ten minutes, to cry ' Jesus, 
thou son of David, have mercy on me,' how dif- 
ferent had been his history and everlasting des- 
tiny!" 

Mr. Ely sprang to his feet and said, "I am a 
great sinner ! It don't seem possible God can for- 
give me. But if any of you can pray for me I 
ask you to do so, and I will try to pray for myself." 
So saying, and not waiting for others, he fell upon 
his knees and offered up the first public prayer of 
his life. Others were also moved to pray, and 
there was no lack of interest to the close of the 
meeting. When we returned home, in our family 
prayer each one, including Mr. Ely, led the others 
at the Lord's altar. 

From that notable day unto this, covering a 
period of more than twenty years, there has been 
a family altar in Mr. Ely's house, and the sight is 
not unusual in the church which he attends, of 
himself and wife and four promising children, all 
sitting around the Lord's table and showing forth 
his death, till he shall come ! The number of con- 
versions in this revival was small. Speaking of 
this rather mournfully, subsequently in a prayer- 
meeting, Miss Elizabeth Lamb rose and asked me 
what I thought the conversion of Mr. Ely was 



AT HOME AGAIN. 3OI 

worth ? The question took me aback. I felt 
justly reproved, and never after murmured over 
the small success of that effort. Years after Mr. 
Ely wrote me offering me one or two hundred 
dollars, if I would write out a synopsis of that 
conversation. In vain I tried to reproduce it. It 
came upon us as a vision, and as a vision it passed 
away. Dr. Lyman Beecher, while President of 
Lane Seminary, once told his students of holding 
revival meetings among the pioneer settlements, 
and that the power of his sermons astonished not 
only the people, but himself. When he returned 
to the seminary he tried to reproduce them, but 
could not. He added, that like many of the ex- 
periences of life, they would be profaned by a 
rehearsal. 

RIPON COLLEGE. 
Not long after my return from California I 
received a call from Rev. Dr. Merriman, President 
of Ripon College. He was one of the ablest 
preachers in the State, an acute reasoner, a man 
of scholarly attainments and otherwise eminently 
fitted to preside over and develop the youthful 
college. But at that day it had next to no endow- 
ment fund, and worse than that, there was hanging 
over it a $20,000 debt. President Merriman at once 
determined to remove that debt and put the 
College on such a basis that its annual income and 
expenses should balance each other. The financial 
condition of the country made it impossible to 
get money in the East. The West, and especially 



302 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Wisconsin, must first indorse the youthful college 
and show faith in its future by canceling that 
debt. This was plausible, if not wholly reasonable. 
So President Merriman undertook to raise the 
$20,000 in Wisconsin. A whole year was spent at 
it, the ground canvassed over and over, and at 
its end only a little over $18,000 had been sub- 
scribed and all this on condition of the whole 
being subscribed by responsible parties. Worn 
down with the long labor, discouraged by the 
meager results and not knowing where to go for 
the remaining $2,000, the good man rode up to my 
house to stay a few days, he said, and rest and 
then go back to the college, resign his office and 
abandon the institution to its fate. Of course, he 
was welcomed with a brother's love and sympathy. 
While he was resting, being one of the trustees 
I looked over the list of subscriptions and saw it was 
reliable so far as I knew the men. I asked if the 
college had not some property we could sell and 
raise a part of the money. Yes, there were some 
lots down by the railroad depot. We concluded 
we could get a Mr. Catlin to take them for $300 
or $400. Then there was this horse he had been 
riding, and now in my stable. Then there was a 
second-hand carriage. Thus we figured down the 
debt till it was reduced to some $1,300 or $1,400. 
Here " was the rub." How could we raise that? 
We were sitting near a small bureau and I opened 
one of its drawers and taking thence a small box I 
took out a couple of $500 bills and spread 



AT HOME AGAIN. 303 

them on his knee. Then two $100 bills and then 
in lesser bills the lacking amount was made up. A 
more astonished man one rarely sees ! "Do you 
mean that?" said he. " Certainly, put it in your 
purse and lie down upon it and go to sleep. Rest 
with me a week and recruit your strength and 
then I will let you go back to the college." "Not a 
bit of it," he replied, "I am well now ; I must go 
right back and tell the professors the joyful news. 
I can't keep it pent up all that time ; let me have 
my horse." And I could not persuade him even to 
stay with me to tea. Cantering away he was 
quickly in Ripon, and I was told that entering the 
town he saw across the street a friend of the 
college and also one of the subscribers, and he 
called out, "Prepare to pay your subscription ; 
the $20,000 is raised ! / have seen the money'' 
And then was great joy in that city. * * * In 
thus helping to relieve the college, while it was a 
great pleasure to me, as also the memory of it ever 
since, I claim no special credit for it. For 1 truly 
feel that he, who has the power to give, is under 
greater obligation to be grateful, than he who 
receives. " It is more blessed to give than to 
receive." 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE THIRD JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. 

The year 1867 opened upon me weaker in nerve 
power than ever before. I was obliged to curtail 
my labors and confine them to Springvale. The 
long cold winters of Wisconsin confining me so 
much indoors, and interfering so much with regu- 
lar outdoor exercise, was steadily aggravating my 
nervous troubles, and I resolved to try again the 
healing virtue of a California climate. Early in 
the autumn I sold out, and left with my family for 
the Golden State. Our route was via New York, 
Panama, and the Pacific. Even so late as 1867, 
twenty years ago, no railroad had crossed the 
western plains, and the quickest route to San Fran- 
cisco from Wisconsin was that which took us one 
thousand miles east to New York, thence twenty- 
five hundred to Panama, then three or four thou- 
sand more to the Golden Gate ; and all to reach a 
country scarce two thousand miles west ! The voy- 
age was without incident, and quite lacking in in- 
terest to one who, like myself, had passed over the 
route three times before. Arrived at San Fran- 
cisco, we went southwesterly about one hundred 
miles, to San Benito county, and took up our resi- 
dence in San Juan. The families to whom I bore 

(304) 



THE THIRD JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. £05 

letters of recommendation received us with char- 
acteristic California hospitality. 

The sea voyage had done me no good. I was 
far from well, and concluded it was my duty to 
cast off care, and recreate, as best I could, for some 
months at least. To this end I wandered over the 
hills, carrying a gun on my shoulder, and captur- 
ing game wherever I could find it. Nothing more 
completely diverts a man's thoughts from old 
channels, and scatters them broadcast upon new 
and changing objects. The physical exercise is so 
varied, going up hill and down, one hour clamber- 
ing over fences and rocks, and climbing the hills, 
and the next crawling on all fours through the 
tangled thicket, or running down hills. Then the 
excitement of the chase affords a salutary exhilara- 
tion of the spirits. For two months or so I tried 
this best of remedies for nerves, worn and wearied 
by overwork and care. 

HUNTING NEAR SAN JUAN. 

There was a great deal of game near San Juan, 
and not infrequently I returned from a day's excur- 
sion heavily laden with the prey I had taken. 
Perhaps it may interest some of the boys who read 
this book, and girls, too, to have a more particular 
account of some of these strollings over the mount- 
ains, and scenes of the chase and the hunt. For 
their sakes I will relate some of them, for I have 
ever loved to amuse them with an innocent story. 
Amusement holds an important place in human 



306 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

life, and at no stage is there a greater demand for 
it than in childhood and youth. Older people, if 
there are any who have got beyond such things, 
may skip this chapter, and pass to the one which 
follows it. 

San Juan is on the north side of the Gabilan 
Mountains, and these mountains abounded in wild 
hogs, wild cats, deer, panther, bear, wolves, rac- 
coons, rabbits, squirrels and quail in infinite num- 
bers. Years ago there were here great herds of 
elk, wild horses and cattle ; but there were none 
here at the period of my visit. The shepherds 
who pastured their flocks in the vicinity of these 
mountains, complained much of the depredations 
of wild boars, coming out of the thickets by night, 
ripping up the sheep with their great tusks, and 
devouring them. Usually they would run back 
with their prey into the thickets when attacked by 
the shepherd and his dogs ; but not always. Now 
and then an old wild boar, who feared neither wolf 
nor bear, would stand his ground, and crunch his 
mutton fearlessly in the face of the owner. If at- 
tacked he would give battle, in which case the 
shepherd usually sought refuge in a tree, and staid 
there till the boar was tired of waiting for him to 
come down, and walked away. And woe to his 
dogs if one of them received a side-winder from 
one of those terrible tusks. 

Near to San Juan was one famous for his size, 
his ferocity, his depredations, his daring, and his 
many encounters with armed men and dogs. I 



THE THIRD JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. 307 

heard so much about him that I rather wanted to 
see him, and soon had an opportunity. I and my 
nephew, Selwyn Shaw, were invited by Deacon 
Cowles and son to accompany them on a hunt for 
wild hogs. The time fixed upon was to be imme- 
diately after the first rain, because we could then 
track them in the soft ground. Accordingly, after 
the first good shower, my nephew and I mounted 
our horses and repaired to the place of rendezvous, 
but Mr. Cowles and son were not there. We soon 
came upon the fresh tracks of large hogs, and tufts 
of grass rooted up here and there. There were 
two of them, and they seemed to be accompanied 
by a yearling steer. The game must be near, and 
much we desired the presence and help of Mr. 
Cowles and son ; besides, we had no dogs. My 
nephew went down toward their house to see if 
they were coming and to get their dogs. While 
he was gone I reconnoitered the grounds and traced 
them up the mountain, till they turned into a dense 
patch of chapparal, nearly circular, and perhaps 
ten rods in diameter. Around and around this I 
went, till I was sure they had not passed through 
it, and was certain they were there. But that 
steer ! Surely he could not have gone in there ! 

Again I examined the track and found it was 
the track of a great boar, doubtless the one I had 
heard so much of! If that was so there was a bat- 
tle ahead, and either he or we would get hurt. I 
at once readjusted my weapons, put a double load 
of powder in each barrel, and from twenty to thirty 



308 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

small revolver balls, and got my knife in position, 
and I waited and waited for the coming of my 
companions in the hunt. Finding a point whence 
I could overlook the valley, I descried them some 
two miles off, approaching ; but soon they turned 
from the direct course and went at right angles to 
it, toward San Juan. I concluded some one was 
sick and they were going for a doctor. On they 
went a mile or more, and passed out of sight ; so I 
concluded I should have to fight out the battle 
alone, and went back to the lair of the wild hogs. 
The truth was the rain of the past night had 
washed a gully, narrow but deep, for a mile or two 
in length, and they had to go that distance to cross 
it with their team and wagon. With not a little 
caution I peered into the chapparal thicket on hands 
and knees, venturing a rod or so within, and then 
backing out and trying a new place. Thus I went 
around it, venturing in toward the center farther 
and farther. At length I saw before me, some thirty 
feet, a black heap ! ft was the hogs I was in quest of. 
I could hear their labored breathing and an occa- 
sional snore ! Inch by inch I advanced, my finger on 
the trigger, till I could make out a hog's head, rest- 
ing on the back of another, and his snout pointing 
directly at me. I would make sure of him with 
one barrel, and defend myself, if attacked, with the 
other and my knife. Taking aim I saw a small 
sapling, an inch in diameter, standing directly in 
the line between my eye and the center of the fore- 
head. Moving aside a little to avoid it, he opened 



THE THIRD JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. 309 

his eyes and glared at me ! A wild grunt and they 
were all on their feet and rushing out of the thicket 
not far from me, and I forced myself outside too, 
as quick as they ! But there confronted me the 
famous wild boar of which I have spoken. x\nd a 
grand sight it was ; especially the tactics he dis- 
played in showing off his size and prowess as he ad- 
vanced toward me. He did not rush upon me at 
once, but approached steadily and slowly, now turn- 
ing this side, now that, his long back rigid with 
bristles, his tusks protruding three inches outside 
his upper lip, and his mouth white with foam ! His 
eye glared fiercely upon me, and his hoarse grunt- 
ings, and occasional sharp, explosive barkings, 
were like those of an ourang-outang when aroused 
and enraged. To show me what he could do with 
those great tusks, he dropped his head and tore up 
the ground and scattered the sod. Had I ran I 
have no doubt he would have followed me and 
probably have killed me. 

Instead of running I steadily advanced, and 
planting my foot firmly, I gave him the full benefit 
of one of those terrible double charges I sometimes 
used. I was thrown back a couple of steps. The 
boar sprang toward me, but his hind legs gave way 
and he had to drag his hind parts with his fore 
feet. I easily avoided him, and poured another 
shower of balls into his forehead. He quailed a 
little and I loaded up again. I had discharged 
that first load at his heart, and just back of the 
shoulder blade. I did not know then, as I do now, 



3IO THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

that to an old wild boar this is about the least vul- 
nerable spot about him ; for there is a shield there 
tougher than any sole leather and three-fourths of 
an inch thick, made so by continual gorings and 
bruises, in countless battles with his kind. So im- 
penetrable is this shield, and so large, too, that I 
have no doubt that nineteen out of twenty of my 
revolver balls flattened against it, and not one of 
them passed through it. A scattering ball or two 
flew above the shield and entered the muscles 
along the backbone, and hence the temporary pa- 
ralysis of the hind legs. The balls of the second 
load, discharged at his forehead, were probably 
also flattened against his thick skull ; but they 
stunned him somewhat and he ceased to advance- 
Just as I had finished reloading, he turned and be- 
gan moving down the steep toward a line of chap- 
paral. I followed him slowly, being sure of my 
game ; but getting into the bushes again, he recov- 
ered the use of his hind legs and was able to keep 
out of my way. 

While I was following him up I heard the 
shouts of my comrades, and with their dogs we 
worried him for perhaps two hours, but could not 
get a shot at him on account of the thick chapparal 
bushes. The dogs dared not go near him. Be- 
lieving he would die, and knowing that his meat 
was of no account, we left him and went in search 
of something more palatable. Before night I 
killed a shoat of 125 pounds, and we packed him 
on our horse and went home. I may add that 



THE THIRD JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. 311 

once afterward I encountered another wild boar, 
nearly as large, and that he succumbed only after 
I had fired into him eight loads like those described 
above, and from a distance not exceeding twenty 
or thirty feet. This animal also feared neither dog 
nor man. 

A WILD GOOSE HUNT. 

Soon after this wild hog hunting affair, a gen- 
tleman invited me to go with him after wild geese. 
My wife's sister, Mrs. Shaw, with whom we boarded, 
interested herself not a little in this goose hunt, 
and not small was the sport she made over the 
matter. How nice those geese would be ! She 
would cook them thus and thus ! She would call 
in friends to enjoy them with us ! Then the feath- 
ers ! What nice pillows they would make! 
Thrown a little upon our mettle, and wishing to 
get even with her, we exacted a promise from her 
before we started, that she should pick and dress all 
we should shoot, and cook and serve them up in 
the most approved style. Yes, she would do that, 
sure. And so we started off about seven o'clock 
one morning. We crossed the San Benito River 
and went into the hills a couple of miles, when we 
approached a couple of lakelets, each perhaps forty 
rods wide and eighty long. My companion said, 
" Let me lie in ambush at one lake, and you take 
the other. In half an hour the geese will come in 
here from their pasture grounds in the wheat stub- 
ble. Here they get their drink." As I was going 
to my assigned lake I broke off a great limb from 



312 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

a live oak and dragged it after me. As I was seek- 
ing a hiding place I heard my companion shoot, 
and then a loud squawking of half a thousand 
geese. Seeing a little gully by the side of the lake, 
I jumped into it and drew the bush over me. 
Presently the geese began to come in, flock after 
flock. At first they alighted on the farther side ; 
then nearer and nearer, till some of them were 
within shooting distance. Nearer and yet nearer 
they came, till trailing my gun upon them I could 
take four or five in range. 

A flock of great black " honkers" came within 
six or eight rods of me. And now they were com- 
ing from all directions, and every part of the little 
lake was agitated with the alighting flocks. I think 
there must have been fifty thousand, and still they 
were coming. Meantime I was trailing my gun 
upon them wherever I could get most in range. 
But a shrewd old gander, the boss of the flock, 
turning his head sidewise, and peering under the 
bush, descried danger there ! A wild squawk and 
the whole fifty thousand instantly took wing. The 
simultaneous flap of the wings of so many was as 
the noise of thunder ; but I fired both barrels into 
the flying mass and there fell not less than twenty 
killed or wounded, some on the land and some in 
the lake. Instantly there swooped down from 
high heaven two enormous eagles, and pounced 
each upon a wounded goose ; but the geese turning 
upon their backs, so plied their wings, knocking 
aside again and again the talons, that the eagles 



THE THIRD JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA. 313 

alighted a few feet distant and awaited develop- 
ments. But I was soon there, and claimed my 
own and drove off the eagles. I could easily have 
shot them, but I was not after eagles now. Well, 
I gathered them, all I could run down on the land, 
and such as floated ashore, till I had gathered 
twelve ! I had killed several more but could not 
find them on the land, or they were out in the 
lake and did not float on shore. A flock coming 
over, 1 fired and killed two more, which gave me 
fourteen ! 

My companion coming over the hill, and seeing 
my pile, said we would take, them and go. He 
had only one. So we packed them to our cart 
and drove home. It was about eleven o'clock A. 
M. when we drove up. Mrs. Shaw was out to 
meet us, and said triumphantly, " Come, hand over 
those geese ; 1 am waiting for them." We hesi- 
tated, and made her repeat her pledge to pick and 
dress all the geese we should shoot, and cook them 
too, and do it all herself. " Yes, yes, certainly ; 
hand them over." And now the whole household, 
two families, were out and gathered around the 
cart, curious to see if we could show a goose. 
Putting a hand under the curtain we drew forth a 
goose ! " Well done ! You have got one poor 
little goose. It is more than I expected." " Did 
we not get another?" I asked. " Yes, I believe 
we did ;" and I put down the hand again and drew 
out another. " Well ! you have got two ; they will 
make us a fair meal !" But we drew out another 



314 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

and put it in her hands, then another ; and so on 
and on, till she could hold no more, and dropped 
"the old geese" in disgust; and so we continued 
till there lay in the pile fifteen geese ! And now 
it was our turn to laugh, and turn the jokes round 
the other way But Mrs. Shaw, with her charac- 
teristic good nature, joined us heartily, and went 
to work to fulfill her promise, and did so, as far as 
mortal woman could. 

CALIFORNIA QUAIL. 

California is noted for its quail. There are two 
kinds, mountain quail and lowland quail. Neither 
variety is like that of the Eastern States. The 
California quail has a plume dandling upon its 
head, which trembles and sparkles in rainbow 
colors, like the spots in a peacock's feather. They 
abound in vast numbers over all the State. I once 
saw a flock coming down from the hills to a sheep - 
fold, which I estimated at from three to five thou- 
sand. The flock nearly covered a space three rods 
wide and thirty long. I fired into this flock, but 
killed only nine. 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Greatly benefited by these hunting excursions, 
and anxious to find a home and a place where I 
could resume my employment as a preacher of the 
Gospel, I left San Juan about the ist of January, 
1868, for a tour into the southern counties, called 
at this time " Cow Counties," on account of the 
vast herds of cattle pastured there. I went on 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 315 

horseback, carried my blankets, and otherwise pre- 
pared myself to camp out wherever night overtook 
me. Crossing the Gabilan Mountains, I followed 
up the Salinas Valley to a crossing opposite the 
old mission of Soledad, or of Solitude, as it was 
very properly called. I was obliged to swim my 
horse across the river. Following up the general 
course of the Salinas in the direction of San Luis 
Obispo, 1 came across a curiosity, which perhaps 
may be found elsewhere, but was a novelty to me. 
It was a bed of gigantic oyster shells, embedded in a 
swell of sandy land, evidently once the shore of the 
ocean These shells, though in sand, were well 
preserved. I dug up some that were from four to 
six inches through the solid shell, and a foot or 
more long, and perhaps six to eight inches across. 
One of them was by actual measurement a foot and 
a half long The oyster it once contained would 
have filled a two-quart measure, and perhaps a 
gallon. There were vast numbers of them. In 
places they formed a stratum two or three feet 
thick. Singularly, many of them were in position 
just as they grew, undisturbed by the vast changes 
which have lifted the lands and deepened the sea, 
and swept out of life the last remnant of the giant 
oyster. If any one has the curiosity to see them, or 
get specimens, they will find them not far from the 
town of Paso Robles, on the Southern Pacific Rail- 
road, and perhaps twenty-five miles from San Luis 
Obispo. 

The last night before reaching San Luis I spent 



316 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

on the Santa Margarita Ranch. Leaving the 
Santa Margarita Ranch I passed over to San Luis 
Obispo, and roamed over that county some two 
weeks. Thence I proceeded eastward, along the 
coast, to Santa Barbara. In what was at that time 
the eastern part, but now the new county of 
Ventura, is the great Briggs Ranch. It had just 
been surveyed off into lots, and here I bought a 
homestead, and here I and my family were soon 
located and settled down to our proper work. 
Rest and recreation had restored my stricken 
nerves to healthful action, and I went up and down 
the Santa Clara Valley preaching the Gospel, from 
San Buena Ventura to Santa Paula, a circuit 
twenty miles long and four wide. In this service 
I wrought more or less for twelve years ; but the 
old trouble gradually came on, necessitating a cur- 
tailment of my preaching appointments, till I was 
obliged to turn the work over to other and abler 
hands. 

Along with this work I carried on somewhat 
extensive farming ; but for this my preaching days 
would have been few and feeble. In this latter 
employment, taking the twenty years together, I 
have been moderately and satisfactorily successful. 
That is I have been able to pay all their dues, have 
supported my family in comfort, have been able to 
give somewhat to each passing call of benevolence, 
and lay aside a reasonable reserve against the time 
when advancing age shall retire myself and my 
partner from active labor and care. And beyond 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 317 

this, perhaps there is a little sum sufficient to keep 
up our habit of giving to the end, and in a small 
way to help our children and others in possible 
emergencies. 

Looking back over the years of our residence 
in Southern California, I am amazed at the prog- 
ress made by our State. A few years ago she 
was nothing agriculturally ; to-day she leads nearly 
all the States in her wool product, the abundance 
of her wheat and barley, in oranges, lemons, 
grapes, raisins, prunes, apricots, peaches and pears ; 
as also in her quicksilver and gold. Of course it 
has other attractions which, with the above, make 
a home on its soil the hope and desire of nations. 
The fear of earthquakes, which in an early day 
kept many from crossing to our coast, has migrated 
eastward, and bounding over the Sierras and 
Rocky Mountains, the Mississippi and the Alle- 
ghanies, now makes Charleston the seat of its ter- 
ror and its power. No cyclones here pursue their 
headlong way, scattering far and wide fences and 
human dwellings ; and even the thunder storm, so 
common in the East, is here practically unknown, 
while in number of beautiful and cloudless days, 
calling forth women and children out of confined 
rooms into the sunny gardens and fields, it has 
no parallel, and no competitor on earth. Had 
Washington, in his reputed " dream of America for 
a thousand years/' foreseen the California that is, 
and, we trust, is to be, he might well have said of 
it what Moses said of the inheritance of Joseph 



318 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

(Deut. xxxiii : 13) — "Blessed of the Lord be his 
land, for the precious things of Heaven, for the dew 
and the deep which coucheth beneath, and for the 
precious things put forth by the sun, and for the 
precious things put forth by the moon, and for 
the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for 
the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the 
precious things of the earth, and the fullness 
thereof, and for the good will of him who dwelt in 
the bush. Let the blessing rest upon the head of 
Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that 
was separated from his brethren." After a resi- 
dence here of twenty years, the above benediction 
seems to me more applicable to California than to 
the patrimony of him for whom it was originally 
intended. 

Should this present process of improvement go 
on, and continue for fifty years to come, it needs 
no prophet to foretell that California by that time 
will have become the choicest spot for human resi- 
dence on earth. I speak of material things. In- 
deed it has become such already. If not, what 
means this growth and development of the past 
twenty -five years? What this passionate fondness 
of all Californians for their adopted State? 
What this hegira of cultivated and well to 
do people from the East and " from all lands 
to make their home here." That California far 
exceeds the ancient Canaan in its productions and 
climate and resources no one can doubt who has 
taken the trouble to compare the two. And the 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. . 319 

Garden of Eden — barring sin and its effects — 
whether it excelled this our Garden of Hesperides 
or not, is a question the debating clubs of the 
country may find it hard to determine. But 
alas ! no place can be a heaven to a sin-smitten 
heart ! God's immortal child never can find 
solid rest save in his father's house and in his 
father's arms. Here as elsewhere man's steps are 
restless, despite these lavished gifts of God. His 
eye is often dimmed with tears. His mouth is filled 
with murmuring and curses. His heart with dis- 
content, and in cases not a few in his hand glitters 
the knife of the suicide. Milton represents Satan 
as saying, " Which way I go is hell, myself am 
hell!" Nevertheless there is much in these sur- 
roundings. Heaven is heaven to the pure in 
heart, though a devil could not be happy there. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

TWENTY YEARS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Tne writer has now reached his seventy-third 
year ! The voyage of life is nearly completed, and 
the port is almost in sight. At masthead the 
white signal calls for the pilot. He will soon 
come on board and take the helm, and ere long 
we shall glide into the harbor of an eternal rest ! 
And we shall step upon the shores of heaven, 
the shores of immortality ! " Our feet shall stand 
within thy gates, oh Jerusalem ! " There God is 
gathering the choice of the earth, the saints of all 
ages, and forming them into a society more joyous 
and delightful then ever entered the thought of 
man ! Sometimes in his reveries by day and in his 
dreams by night, the writer looks far off into the 
azure blue and fancies he sees there the City of 
God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most 
High. Issuing from its gates of pearl, he sees a 
train of friends and loved ones gone before, coming 
down the golden walk to meet and embrace us 
and conduct us to the heavenly mansions ! What 
a meeting that will be ! What congratulations ! 
What introductions to persons we have longed to 
see ! What wondrous sights ! What new experien- 
ces — and what new endowments to fit us for our new 

(320) 



LIFE BEYOND SEVENTY. $21 

conditions, and for an endless life ! An hour that, 
never to be forgotten, and perhaps never to be 
equaled ! 

The hour of our terrestrial birth we have for- 
gotten ! Perhaps we were not conscious of it at 
all. Not so did Enoch and Elijah enter upon the 
life above, but with eyes wide open, and faculties 
undimmed. Even so shall we, it is likely, with un- 
dimmed vision and every faculty intensely active, 
cross over the Jordan, and enter into the promised 
land. 

OLD AGE AND LIFE BEYOND SEVENTY. 
It seems quite in place here, to drop a word 
upon those who look forward to old age with fear 
and dread. Not a few imagine that life beyond 
seventy, is in the main joyless, and usually a bur- 
den grievous to be borne. Indeed, there are those 
who question its desirableness before that time, or 
even at all. There are people well to do, so far 
as health and property and social position are con- 
cerned, who often express the wish they had 
never been born. They object to the command 
to " multiply and replenish the earth," on the 
ground that there is more evil than good in life. 
More sorrow than joy, more sighs than songs ! 
Indeed, the whole pessimistic school of philosophiz- 
ing skeptics hold and advocate this doctrine. And 
if their denial of the desirableness of life, finds 
support in their experience, it does not highly 
compliment their faith. Let them talk no more 
like Hume, of the gloom which enshrouds the 



322 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Christian religion, despoiling life of all its pleas- 
ures. For who ever heard of a Christian wish- 
ing he had never been ! 

Is then life beyond seventy necessarily cloudy? 
Or may it not, on the other hand, be rich in 
joys, in sunshine and in song ? Were the writer 
to refer this question to his own experience it 
would be quickly decided that no part of life equals 
it in peace and joy, and all substantial good. It 
is the rich autumn wherein is gathered and en- 
joyed what was planted in spring and cultivated 
in summer. The most beautiful colors which 
gather on the leaves of forest trees, or the cheek 
of orchard fruits, are those that give grace and 
glory to ripening days, and accompany the frosts 
of autumn ! No such plethoric stores for man and 
beast fill the bin, the barn and the cellar, as those 
which crown the closing year. And are not these 
things in nature prophetic and suggestive of what 
will be and ought to be true, of the closing years 
of a useful and successful life ? Let us consider 
some of the reasons why life beyond seventy may 
be specially peaceful and happy. 

i. On account of its exemption in large measure 
from care. Active life, immersion in affairs and in 
business, involves men necessarily in much of fore- 
thought and wearisome care. What multitudes 
are annually killed by it, or prematurely worn out? 
But in old age these responsibilities are laid upon 
other shoulders, and the rest is sweet. Sweet like 
the rest of the laborer when the toil of the day is 
over. 



LIFE BEYOND SEVENTY. 323 

Thus in my prime, no sooner had 1 preached 
one sermon, than the question was upon me, What 
shall I preach next, and what do the wants of my 
people require ? And there was no rest to the 
mind, till that message was selected, elaborated 
and preached. 

So when, after much solicitude and labor, a 
soul was converted, the question at once arose, 
How shall he be led on in the narrow way ? How 
edified and made useful ? 

2. Retrospection is a spring of unfailing pleas- 
ure to an old man who has spent an honorable, 
useful and a truly Christian life. 

' 'Oft in the stilly night 

When slumber's chain hath bound me, 
Fond memory brings the light 

Of other days around me." 

This is one of the special objects and offices 
of memory: To escort the good man back over his 
past and refresh his spirit with joy, as he pauses 
at each hallowed spot where was left behind him 
some token of his love to God, or good will to 
man. A good act blesses the doer, not only at 
the time of its performance, but perhaps even 
more, every time it is reviewed. It hath an eternal 
fragrance. Memory hath made it immortal ! 

There is no part of life so given to retros- 
pection as old age, and in extreme age little else 
employs one's thought. And if indeed we have 
spent the prime of our days in useful labors, the 
retrospection thereof will be sweet and blessed. 



324 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

And "blessed is the man who hath his quiver 
full of them." 

3. The consciousness of growth and improve- 
ment in our characters and dispositions is in old 
age a source of pleasure. Conversion lays the 
foundation of a moral temple whose subsequent 
growth and symmetry, the angels shall admire, 
and whose top shall shine even in heaven ! But 
brick after brick, and stone after stone must be 
laid upon it and story after story must be added. 
And as it rises it shows its design, and develops 
the wisdom and glory of its plan. And the man of 
mature Christian life, who has grown in grace and 
gotten largely the victory over the world, the flesh 
and the devil, has happy thoughts to dwell upon, 
when he thinks of victories won, and improvement 
made since he was a babe in Christ. 

4. The removal of all doubts of acceptance with 
God, is another source of joy to old age. With 
most persons doubts and clouds hang about the 
portals of conversion, and often for years, ever and 
anon, the question will obtrude itself, "Have I 
been truly converted?" "Am I His or am I not?" 
But God has arranged a series of tests along one's 
path, which brings out to view the principles which 
really govern us. By the time we reach old age, 
if not before, these many crucibles through which 
our spirits are called to pass have removed all 
doubt as to whose we are and whom we love. 
Thus having arrived in due time at the full assur- 
ance of faith how can we be less than happy at 



LIFE BEYOND SEVENTY. 325 

the final settlement of the most momentous ques- 
tion which ever agitated human thought. The 
writer has heard many a man say, "I would give 
all that I have to know that heaven is my home, 
and eternal life secure." Well, reader, it is youf 
privilege to walk with God and to be allied to him so 
consciously and so lovingly that you cannot doubt 
your acceptance. You can say with Paul, "I 
know in whom I have believed," and with John 
" We know that we have passed from death unto 
life." It is your privilege to know this before you 
have journeyed very far on the homeward road. 
And you are inexcusable, indeed, if when old age 
has come, you are still a babe, and wearing yet the 
swaddling clothes of doubt. 

5. Exemption in large measure from fierce tempt- 
ations is a special relief granted to old age. God 
has provided that then the passions of the body 
shall largely have gone to sleep, and they trouble 
us then little if at all. The world appeals not to us 
as formerly. We have largely retired from it and 
its conflicts. Its opinions, once so weighty, are of 
little weight with us now. Its silver and gold and 
houses and lands, are fast losing all their value 
to us. Less too are the assaults of Satan. Perhaps 
God's guardian angels will not allow him to dis- 
turb the old war-worn soldier retired to the hos- 
pital, or the sagacious enemy may by this time 
have become convinced that it will be of no use 
at this late hour to try to seduce the old veteran 
from his loyalty to God.* 



326 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

Finally, proximity to heaven, the Father's house 
so near at hand, fills all the valley through which 
the old man is passing, with peace and joy and un- 
earthly light. After the long and wearisome 
journey through the wilderness of Sinai, who can 
describe the joy of Joshua and Caleb when the 
Lord said to them, "In three days ye shall pass 
over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which 
the Lord your God giveth you to possess it " ? Or 
that of Elijah, the aged prophet, as, leaning on 
Elisha's arm, he hastened over Jordan, to meet the 
chariots sent to escort him to the presence of the 
King of Glory? Or that of Paul, the aged, now 
ready to be offered, and the time of his departure 
at hand, assured beyond a doubt that there was 
"laid up for him a crown of righteousness!" Let 
us not think such exultant experiences belong to 
the past alone. They are, and they have been, the 
heritage of God's people of every age and every 
clime. 

During a ministry of nearly forty years, it has 
been my duty and my pleasure to accompany 
numbers of Christians down to the Jordan, and to 
watch with them in their latest hours. And judg- 
ing from their language and their looks, the hours 
of their supreme joy have been the closing hours 
of life, those verging upon an eternal day ! The 
Saviour said, "I, if I go away, will come again, 
and receive you to myself." The "coming again" 
referred to here is, in my belief, this singular reve- 
lation of the Master to his people when dying, or 



LIFE BEYOND SEVENTY. 327 

about to die. In some cases he comes early, in 
others, later, but in all he comes. 

Dr. Nelson relates the case of an eminent Chris- 
tian, who, in dying, experienced no such revela- 
tion to his departing spirit as he expected. His 
daughter held his hand in hers, and said, ''Father, 
if the Master comes to you after speech and sight 
have gone, will you squeeze my hand?" He said, 
"Yes." At length his hands and feet became cold, a 
moment more and he would be gone. Just then 
the Saviour came, faithful to his promise, and the 
stiffened muscles began to contract, and closing his 
fingers, strongly pressed his daughter's hand, thus 
signifying his Lord had come. And if this be the 
divine arrangement, then may we welcome old 
age and gray hairs, and go down into the valley, 
singing as we go, "When I walk through the val- 
ley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for 
thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they com- 
fort me." 

A DREAM OF HEAVEN. 

I once had a dream of heaven. It was, perhaps, 
twenty years since. But neither advancing age 
nor failing memory have availed to efface the 
vision, or obliterate the picture from my memory, 
or weaken its influence on my views and life. This 
was the dream : That I had dropped suddenly 
dead, and after a few moments of confused thought, 
like that we experience when awakening out of 
sleep, I found myself in the city of New Haven, 
Conn. I was standing on "The Green, "as we used, 



328 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

sixty years ago, to call the Central Park. But "the 
City of Elms" — my beau ideal of civic beauty in 
college days — was no more there, save only its 
site. The old stuccoed Statehouse was gone. 
So, too, were the college dormitories and halls of 
science, the stately elms also, and even the temples 
of worship ! Gone they were, but in their places 
were structures, and a scenery more beautiful than 
tongue can tell! Trees, indeed, there were, arch- 
ing the long streets as of yore, but they were trans- 
figured — spiritualized ! glorified ! And I stood en- 
tranced by their beauty, much as some of us re- 
member to have been, as we have walked out into 
a forest some bright wintry morning, and beheld 
everything bejeweled and glittering with icicles; 
the great trees, bending under a weight of glory, 
and glittering in the morning sun. And not only 
the great tree's trunk, and limbs, and tiny twigs, 
but even the grasses were strung with diamonds, 
and sparkled in the rays of glory. 

Such a scene, so familiar to those who have 
lived in wintry lands, and the impression it makes, 
will best convey to the reader the impression made 
upon me by the trees which embowered the 
streets of the paradise my dream revealed. Streets, 
indeed, there were, but they were enlarged to 
avenues, generous in width, and a thousand miles 
in length. Residences, also, but not crowded, 
were on every side, but they seemed as pure and 
holy, spotless and ethereal, as if made of crystal or 
of glass. No two were alike, and each had some 



LIFE BEYOND SEVENTY. 329 

peculiarity, all its own, which was the admiration 
of all. No walls or fences divided these celestial 
mansions, and they reminded me of Euclid street 
in Cleveland. 

Persons, too, I saw, not in throngs, nor often 
walking singly, but gathered in social groups, as 
if on some joyful visit. While looking through 
the long avenues, the door of a palace on my right 
opened, and down the steps walked three persons, 
and crossed the green before me and entered 
another, whose door opened and closed of its own 
accord. I had never conceived of such beauty 
before, nor of such elastic steps, and harmony in 
motion. Such purity of force and diction. Such 
sprightly suggestions, and such quick and apt 
replies ! Perfectly happy they seemed in each 
others' society. And now and then there came 
melting upon my ear strains of music, rich and 
rare, beyond all former conception. But what im- 
pressed me most of all was, that I saw no place of 
worship, nor any form of God, my Maker, nor of 
Christ, my Saviour. But presently I felt within, 
stealing over all my spirit, a sense of divine love* 
a pulsation from the great heart of God, like a 
wave of the great ocean, flowing into all the bays 
and inlets connected with it. And then my heart 
throbbed back responsive, and then the divine wave 
returned, revealing God's love to me, so much 
more intimately and delightfully than sight could 
do, that I could not bear to have substituted for it 
the more distant revelation of a form to the eye, 



330 THE PIONEER PREACHER. 

however glorious it might be. And I saw that 
every heart in that delightful land was intensely 
conscious of these throbbings of divine love, and 
was also joyfully responsive to them, and that this 
constituted the supreme bliss of heaven. 

This, reader, was a real dream, not made up 
and tampered with for effect, but related as it came 
and went. I have told it, not as a revelation, but 
as a dream. Yet I cannot rid myself of the con- 
viction, that in it 1 gained a true conception of 
what will constitute the great river of the water of 
life above. Not the outward adornment of the 
Celestial City, not its exemption from sin and sor- 
row, and death ; not its transcendent heights of 
knowledge ; not its songs of unearthly melody ; nor 
yet its society, delightful as that may be, made 
up of dear kindred and loved ones, and the saints 
of all ages too. All these, and more, no doubt, 
will be there for us to admire and enjoy. But that 
which shall surpass them all, and leave them far 
behind, will be those impulsations of divine love 
which shall fill all hearts, and unite them forever 
to the Lord. 

And I think I understood better than before 
why John was inspired to write those startling 
words : 

"And I saw no temple therein ; for the Lord 
God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple 
of it." 

THE END. 



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